#today i don't have as much to do... except for like. cleanup

[naomiknight-17]

What's totally wild about family baking day yesterday is that, while we baked 3 different recipes of cookies totaling at least 9 dozen, I think I only ate one cookie the whole day.

Welp. There's lots leftover and I can make up for lost time today lol

[seratopia]

miguel o'hara x reader (fluff) - please? → she/her pronouns!

miguel begs you not to get out of bed

By far the highest blessing you could receive in the morning is Miguel O'Hara's morning voice.

Deep, gravelly, and sparse, Miguel's morning voice always manages to send chills down your spine, especially when you're nothing but a hair's width apart from his chest.

You can feel his heart slowly beat against your cheek, his chest rising and falling to the sound of his breathing. Waking up to a face full of chest has been unexpectedly, one of the numerous highlights of your day.

Slowly, your eyes flutter open, and it takes you a moment to come to your senses. He smells nice, a reminder of the shower gel you keep in your bathroom for when he visits.

Miguel's almost too big for your bed; he takes up your space, barely fits the comforter, but you love him anyway. You really don't know how, or why Miguel chooses to sleep with you in your tiny little bed, but you don't complain.

"Amor."

His wording rumbles from the deepest parts of his throat, and you can feel the vibration of his voice against your ear. You squirm a little, tiny noises escaping your mouth as you make yourself just a little more comfortable.

"Mmmph... what time is it?" You murmur into his skin, savoring the warmth he omits.

Miguel lazily rests his heavy arm over you, running his abnormally large hand over your back. He presses a darling kiss into your hair, humming. It's only you who gets to see him like this, all sleepy-eyed and touchy beyond repair. You try to savor this version of Miguel as possible, knowing that he has to be someone else when he's at work.

Miguel keeps a single arm on you while you try to bend your arm in impossible ways, twisting and turning your limb to try to reach your phone on the bedside table. Eventually it works, and you manage to slip your phone into your fingers before you dislocate your arm.

"It's 9:23..." You breathe, sighing before turning your phone back off and placing it next to your pillow.

Miguel's pulling you in like a magnet, snuggling you like a puppy would a teddy bear. He's just too cute like this, hands and legs roaming around your body for something to squeeze. As much as you absolutely hate to let go of him, duty calls.

"Miguel... we have to go to work."

He can hear the distaste in your voice, reminded of the agonizingly long spread of cleanup, the idea of people bothering him, the mediocre food at the cafeteria. (Except for the empanadas, lmao)

Miguel doesn't want to go to work today, and he doesn't think you do either. Wearing a skin-tight supersuit just wasn't it today.

"Noo...." Miguel whines, strengthening his arms around you. You have to tap on his arm, just so enough air can find it's way back to your lungs again.

"Miguel, we have a job to do." You say, rubbing the sleep away from your eyes. You hear him groan into your hair, your mind practically going blank at the sound of his intense morning voice.

We mUST stay focused brothers, we must stay focused!!!

Almost like every morning, you begin your wrestle for freedom, pushing at his forearms wrapped tight over you. It's almost like you forget that Miguel's a superhuman Spider-Man. Stubbornly, he keeps his lazy stance, ignoring your tiny pushes and shoves.

"Oh my gosh, Miguel. Let me go. If you don't go to work, I will." You curse, squirming and kicking yourself in all sorts of directions.

He shakes his head again, eyes closed shut and nose still in your hair.

It was only a matter of time before you'd tire yourself out.

And you did.

Miguel's got the shittiest, most satisfied grin on his face, and all you can do is scowl at him. Still, he hasn't let go of you, and now you're convinced he wont let you go until the end of the day.

As much as Miguel was stubborn, you were too. You have a final ace up your sleeve, and hopefully it'll save both Jessica and the kids from disarray in the office today.

Miguel's face starts to melt down a little when you flutter your eyelashes at him, shoving your face into his chest and pressing a sweet little kiss between his pectorals.

It's like the satisfaction from Miguel transferred over to you, and Miguel is left speechless as you trail your way up to his clavicle, nipping and kissing at the surface of his skin.

"Let me go, please?" You ask, specifically in the tone of voice that you know Miguel loses his shit over.

His voice is hitched in his throat, ears turning scarlet as his grip around you starts to loosen.

"I... honey-"

The moment you reach his neck, Miguel know's he's done for, a chill running down his neck and back. It makes him all hot, his mind being wiped clean like a whiteboard. Just for the funsies, you kiss his pulse point a little, wrapping your own arms around his neck.

Utterly, Miguel melts, the sweetest, poutiest expression on his face like he doesn't know what to.

You win.

While you still can, you slip out of Miguel's grip, your feet finally meeting the carpeted floor. Miguel realizes your little act, grumbling and pouting to himself as he relishes the disappearance of your warmth.

"If you come to work, we can do more..." You tease, trotting off to your bathroom with a chuckle.

Reluctantly, the man rises from your bed, the boards creaking under his weight. (One day, he's gonna break your bed, somehow.) He follows after you, running his hand through his messy bedhead.

"Coming, sweetie."

© 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒂.

[yoonavii]

hi omg!! I’m absolutely obsessed w your Sanji fics, and I was wondering if I could request one 🤭

Ok so like imagine Sanji and y/n both work at the Baratie, and they’re both in a relationship. Their shift is over, all the staff are “gone”, and they just have a really sweet moment. they’re dancing in the kitchen together, like just enjoying each other’s presence after a really tiring and busy day at the restaurant, JUST A LOT OF FLUFF 🥹🥹

this is optional, but like imagine all the staff secretly watching the couple just being so sweet and loving to each other, and they’re all just like so excited and giggling like teenage girlies 😭

Sorry if some stuff didn’t make any sense, this is my first time requesting a fic from anyone 😭. You can alter some of the plot if you’d like, I’m sure anything you write will be amazing!! Thank you so much, and I hope you’re doing well ❤️❤️

Oh no, you make complete sense! I understand what you mean. I would like to thank you for reviving me from my writer’s block. I was completely burned out but you’ve helped me with that. Hope you enjoy! :)

Kitchen serenade

OPLA! Sanji x Reader

The Baratie restaurant buzzed with activity, the clatter of dishes and the sizzle of pans creating a cacophonous symphony of flavors. As you and Sanji worked side by side, the hours passed in a whirlwind of culinary artistry. Both of you were accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the busy restaurant, but today had been particularly demanding. Finally, as the evening sun dipped below the horizon, the last customers bid their farewells. The staff, except for you and Sanji, had already headed to bed for the night, leaving the two of you to tackle the post-dinner cleanup. The kitchen was now bathed in a warm, golden glow, the aftermath of a long and exhausting shift.

You and Sanji moved with a practiced efficiency, scrubbing pans, wiping down countertops, and tidying up the chaos that had ensued during the dinner rush. Despite the fatigue that settled into your bones, there was an unspoken connection between you, a bond forged in the heat of the kitchen. As you stacked plates, Sanji's voice broke the comfortable silence. "You know, we make a pretty good team." You looked up, a tired but content smile playing on your lips. "We do, don't we? I couldn't ask for a better partner in the kitchen."

Sanji's eyes sparkled with a mixture of pride and affection. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

With the last dish washed and the kitchen now gleaming, a sense of accomplishment settled over you both. But the moment of connection didn't end there. The lyrics of a soft, romantic song drifted into your minds, echoing the sentiment of the evening. "Care for a dance?" Sanji extended his hand, his eyes locking onto yours. You accepted his invitation with a smile, placing your hand in his as he led you to the center of the kitchen. The polished floor tiles felt cool beneath your feet as he pulled you close, and the two of you began to sway to the gentle rhythm of the song playing in your hearts.

The other workers, who had supposedly left for the night, had discreetly gathered nearby, their giggles and knowing looks a testament to the romantic scene unfolding in the kitchen. It seemed they had all secretly rooted for the two of you. In the warm, dimly lit kitchen, you and Sanji danced together, lost in the simple pleasure of each other's company. The cares of the day melted away as you held each other close, the world outside fading into insignificance.

Sanji's voice was a soft whisper against your ear. "You know, mi amor, it's moments like these that make it all worth it. "You nodded in agreement, your cheek resting against his shoulder. "I couldn't agree more, Sanji." As the mental song reached its conclusion, the two of you shared a lingering kiss, sealing the moment with a promise of love and togetherness. The other workers erupted into applause, their cheers and laughter filling the room. With the kitchen serenade complete, you and Sanji returned to the real world, where the challenges of the restaurant still awaited. But you faced them with renewed energy and a deeper connection, knowing that no matter how busy the day, there would always be moments like these—moments of love and shared dances in the heart of the kitchen.

©𝐘𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐈— Any sign/evidence of plagiarism made from outside this name will be dealt with by whatever means necessary. Legal action may occur if non fanfiction works are plagiarized.

[loquaciousquark]

I see @eponymous-rose doing these sometimes and I've always thought it was so much fun, so here's a Day in the Life of a clinical Associate Professor™. For reference, I've been seeing patients & teaching at my current university since finishing my residency almost a decade (!!!!!) ago.

9:30 - 10:00 - Precious precious office hours, spent answering emails from students, colleagues, and a guest speaker from a national organization I'm trying to coordinate an event for in two weeks. Everything's lined up except the venue (all our regular lecture halls are booked), and of course we discover this just outside his window to refund his airline tickets. Rats.

10:00 - 12:00 - Clinical lab! I'm coursemaster for two complex lecture/lab courses in the spring (protip: never let admin do this to you), so right now I spend most of my week in the classroom. Friday AMs are my advanced procedures lab, & today the students are doing intradermal and subcutaneous injections of the forearm and eyelid. This course can be really scary for them, so I go to a lot of effort to get them mentally and emotionally prepped, practicing approach and needle manipulation, etc. All of them do wonderfully, and even after cleanup and taking the biohazard bag down to disposal, I'm out on time.

12:00-1:00 - Guest faculty candidate lecture! Our full-time faculty has been down by about five people for a few years, and we also have three more of our remaining full-timers out on medical leave until late February, so we are hurting for help. This applicant gives a phenomenal talk on diversity and optometric scope across the several continents she's taught in over the last twenty years. It's an extraordinary talk and I honestly learn more geography than I expected.

1:00 - 2:30 - Lecture! Advanced procedures lecture to the third-year class, usually the only barrier between them and their weekend. I really like today's lecture and it goes well, and even the chronic dozers in the side seats stay awake.

2:30 - 2:45 - Intended to be an interview/tour with the faculty applicant, except here comes the first wrench. Just as she gets to my office, the colleague delivering the speaker lets me know she's having tech trouble with her Zoom-in guest lecturer and also there's a very upset student in the hall outside the classroom. I go down with her right away; student is okay, just got some very bad news, and when I'm sure they're settled with their friends & support system I help the colleague with the tech.

2:45-3:10 - Tour finally happens! The students we encounter are chipper and cheerful (not always the case in practical season!).

3:10-4:00 - Meeting with my clinic coordinator to prep for next week's practicals. My other big course this semester caps with a high-stakes clinical entrance exam; in essence, the students must perform a complete, independent eye examination from start to finish, and they can't enter clinic with "real" patients until they pass. The setup & scheduling for this practical (which runs over three weeks) is probably the most complicated logistical nightmare of my year. However, my coordinator is amazing, and within the hour she has a detailed list of both her tasks and mine and will report back as each prep step is done.

4:00-5:00 - Desperately trying to finish this schedule, answer my most urgent calls from patients, and finish some time-sensitive grading. Another colleague comes by and asks what I thought of the guest speaker, and when I say I didn't get much time in my interview with her, she suggests I tag along to the faculty dinner with her tonight at 5:45. A fantastic idea! I'll just wear what I have on, yeah?

The faculty dinner is at a five-star steakhouse. I'm wearing scrubs and a pullover.

It's okay, I have time to make it home and change! I can make it!

5:15 - I accidentally overwrite 90% of my completed schedule with an old, mostly blank copy, and don't realize it until after saving multiple times (I was on a different tab in the spreadsheet).

5:15 - 5:45 - Meticulously recreate the schedule as quickly as I can. I've already emailed out some assignments to the students, so I can't start over from scratch (which would have honestly been faster). Finally finish & send out the details to needed parties.

5:45 - 6:35 - race home, feed the dog, change into slacks and my favorite blazer, race out to the steakhouse.

6:35 - 8:30 - I arrive just before the salads come out, hallelujah! I have the best steak I've ever eaten in my life, as well as have a fantastic conversation with the candidate and the other faculty. The time honestly flies by, and when I realize what time it is I'm feeling very guilty about leaving the dog. Still, I'm sure she'll be a fantastic fit for the program, and it's honestly a relief to have my questions about some of her experience answered.

8:50 - home at last, at last!

8:51 - I discover my fly has been unzipped all night.

8:52 - 9:00 - I indulge in paroxysms of shame until I rationalize that the restaurant was incredibly dim, I was sitting the whole time, and my undies are also black. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine.

9:00 - now - hot bath, a book of poetry, and a double bourbon. After today, I feel like I've earned it.

[jessicanjpa]

happy mother's day

It's Alice's first time baking with Esme! An excerpt from this 1957 one-shot. Esme POV.

"I'm home!" I called out from the garage. "And I could use some help!"

I heard Alice's delicate sigh three floors up. By the time I got around to the trunk and opened it, she had flitted to my side wearing a new striped yellow dress and a pitiful look of resignation. She stuck out her arms and I began filling them with bags of groceries.

"You don't really have to do this, you know," I teased her, scooping up the last four bags myself.

"I promised," she said, and her pout turned upward into the smile that was never very far away.

"You did! And it's a chance to learn something new. The older we get, the more we'll treasure opportunities like this."

"I suppose I will. But ugh! Why do you buy so much at the grocery store, and so many things that smell funny?"

We set the groceries down onto the kitchen counter all in a neat line. Alice rooted through the bags, her nose wrinkling more with each one. "I don't even know what this one is!" she complained, pulling out an enormous zucchini with two reluctant fingertips.

"A zucchini. It's a kind of squash. That's what we're baking," I reminded her. "Zucchini bread. And you know how important it is to keep up appearances, especially when we're new. Some of it does go to waste, but we end up donating a lot of it in the end."

We had enjoyed a good, long stay in Klamath Falls. Emmett had, unfortunately, had an accident near the middle of our time there. But it had been an easy cleanup, so it hadn't interrupted our stay. Edward had been able to earn his bachelor's in music performance and Rosalie had finished a degree in bio pre-med. Carlisle and I were fiercely proud of both of their achievements. And even though Emmett had drifted aimlessly between majors for his entire stay at Southern Oregon college, my mother-heart had nearly burst to see him come so far. He hadn't even been able to read when Carlisle had first changed him.

But six years was pushing it; the children hadn't really known what to do with themselves after graduation, knowing we wouldn't have much time left, and Carlisle was starting to get jokes at work about having found the fountain of youth. So after some traveling, we had ended up here in northern Michigan. Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett had just started high school again last week. Alice was torn; we had all hoped that she and Jasper would both be joining the others in school this time, but Jasper was still reluctant. The rest of us all thought he was ready. The only way our newest vegetarian was ever going to trust himself at school was to go and practice being at school. He was dragging his feet and he knew it, but it was his choice in the end. I just wished Alice would go ahead without him and enjoy herself.

My darling girl, full of sunshine! I busied myself getting the ingredients ready, smiling as I watched Alice take the groceries out of the bags, peering at each item as if it were from another planet. Out of all of us, she was the only one who had no memories of her human life—no memories whatsoever of things as commonplace as eating and preparing food. The whole concept was completely foreign to her, and until today she had skillfully avoided my every cajoling effort to join me in the kitchen. Everyone except her had taken at least one turn by now, even Emmett and Jasper. But I had won in the end.

"It's almost Mother's Day," I said to her last Tuesday. "And there's something I really would love; let's see if you can figure it out without any hints."

That was all it took; Alice couldn't resist a challenge for her visions. She loved stretching her gift like this, especially where shopping and surprises were concerned. She eagerly plunged into the silent world of pictures that swirled around inside her head, visiting department store after department store and flipping catalog pages, all without moving a muscle. It took her three days to figure it out.

"Esme!" she pouted, bursting in on me as I was painting that third afternoon. "That's not even a real present!"

"It is to me," I said, opening my arms for her reluctant hug. "You know I've always wanted to bake something with you." She made a face, but she also promised to follow through.

"Hand me the whisk, would you, dear?" I asked her now. She dug through the drawer of mysterious cooking implements, zoning out for a moment, no doubt to peek ahead and see what a whisk even looked like. I donned my favorite apron and tossed another one to her.

"I'll beat the eggs and oil and sugar if you'll peel and grate the zucchini," I offered.

"Gladly," she said, peering with distaste into my bowl. "I will never understand why humans like to scramble up animal embryos. Isn't that... kind of gross?"

"It is when you put it that way," I laughed. "I can't say it appeals to me either, not anymore."

Alice was concentrating, trying to figure out how to peel the zucchini. She was holding the peeler steady and drawing the vegetable back and forth along it instead of the other way around.

"Try the opposite way," I suggested gently. "You hold whatever you're peeling still and draw the peeler downwards, away from you. Then lift it up and start at the top again." She nodded and tried again, sticking her tongue out in concentration. Her pressure wasn't quite right and she ended up peeling away a good half of the zucchini itself, but I adored her effort. I laid three more down for her to do.

"You know I like to bake for various local things now and then," I explained, whisking the oil into the eggs and sugar at superspeed. "Hospital fundraisers, the children's ward, sometimes an event or two at whatever school you all are attending... Good. Now you're going to grate the zucchini right into this mixture." I demonstrated first this time.

"I'm sure they appreciate the gesture," she said, "but you and Carlisle give gobs of money to those things anyway. Wouldn't store-bought cookies or bread be just as good?"

"Heavens, no! They aren't baked with love when those industrial machines do the work. And it makes me feel good, too. It feels like I'm actually participating in a way that feels familiar and human. Baking was a way I showed love to people in my first life, so I kept on doing it in my second, even when I wasn't ready to go out at all. It's a shame I can't enjoy the food myself, but it's still special."

"You used to volunteer at Carlisle's hospitals, didn't you?" Alice asked.

"Now and then, yes. But it's been a long time." I hesitated for a second. "I've been thinking of a new adventure lately—going back to school."

"Really? You would pose as a college student?" She looked doubtful.

"I would be a college student," I laughed. "Why, do you think I look too old? I might need a little help from you and Rosalie..."

That perked her right up. We started chattering about ways we could make me look younger: hairstyles, makeup, styles of clothing and jewelry and shoes and purses, even ways I could talk differently. Alice got so focused on our brainstorming that her grating went faster and faster until her fingertips accidentally smushed the grater's holes in on themselves and she had a big mush of zucchini pulp on the other side. She put everything down and scowled at it.

"I don't think I'm going to be good at this," she said with a sigh, picking at the grater with her fingernails to make the holes right again. "For all I know, I've never done any of it before."

"It's all right," I assured her. I moved on to the dry ingredients in my own bowl. "We're so... perfect at so many things that I find it can be refreshing to not be so good at something, or to at least be so new at something that we can make mistakes. I bought several. Just try again." She took another zucchini, moving more carefully this time. She was concentrating so hard her tongue was sticking out the corner of her mouth again. She was so adorable; I couldn't resist. I snapped a picture before she could change her pose. She didn't even notice. Everyone had grown used to my clicking shutter by now.

Jasper had quietly joined us a moment ago. He was leaning against the kitchen door frame with his arms folded, watching Alice with the most tender, thoughtful smile. He caught my attention behind her back and twisted that naughty little corner-grin of his, the one he got whenever he was about to prank Emmett somehow. He pounced and grabbed her from behind, making her scream.

"I'm sorry!" he laughed, letting her go and dodging the half-grated zucchini she tried to slap him with. "It was just too easy—I could tell you were too immersed in your, uh..."—he gestured toward the mixing bowl vaguely—"for visions, and the stink was strong enough for a good stealth operation... what?" he added, narrowing his eyes.

"Nothing," Alice said sweetly, turning back to stir the putrid green mixture. "Just thinking of how I'll get you back."

"It was worth it," he promised, wrapping his arms around her again, this time for a peck on the cheek.

"Hmm," was all she said. Her eyes were absent, scanning the future. I picked up the camera again, just in case.

"I think you'd better get out while the getting's good," I told Jasper. "Unless you'd like to help out too?"

He held his hands up in surrender. "No thanks. I've already served my time. Emmett and I are going out to whip up some dinner of our own."

"You ready?" Emmett called out, just coming down the stairs. Alice whipped around and flicked a heaping spoonful of zucchini mush, hard, straight at Jasper's face. Jasper ducked just in time for the missile to fly over his head... straight into Emmett's open mouth.

I laughed and took the picture just as Emmett's eyes bulged out in horror. He spewed it all out, and it just happened to time perfectly with when Jasper stood back up, so he got a faceful as well. He swiped furiously at the mess and his mouth, and I got one more picture to commemorate the moment when my newest son tasted human food for the very first time. He looked like he was actually going to vomit, and he sounded like it too. He finally rushed over to the sink and flushed it all out with water, leaving a bright green trail everywhere he stepped. Alice was serenely stirring the batter, humming to herself.

"Was it still worth it?" she asked innocently.

"No," Jasper said, shuddering one last time. "It was not. Real funny, Emmett."

"You're blaming me?!" Emmett practically yelled. He was wiping his mouth out with my brand new kitchen towel. I sighed and took it from him, dropping it in the trash; I had learned the hard way never to put venom in the washing machine.

"I guess not," Jasper sighed, growling playfully at Alice as he passed instead of giving her a goodbye kiss. Emmett relaxed and turned to go, but Jasper flew up behind him and punched him so hard in the gut that a dribble of venom and old blood gushed out of his mouth. Emmett grabbed Jasper and roared and yanked the back of Jasper's shirt over his head before he could struggle out of Emmett's bear-sized grip.

"Take it outside," I warned them. I grabbed another towel and rushed to get the blood and venom before the dining room floor could start dissolving.

"NOW!" I shouted as they tumbled blindly into the sofa, knocking it askew by several feet. It took them a minute, still snarling and struggling to get a grip on each other, but they got out the back patio door without causing any further carnage. I caught the floor lamp as it fell, an inch before it hit the ground.

"Those two, I swear," I said, dropping the towel into the trash with the other one. "And you saw that whole thing, didn't you?"

"Who, me?" Alice said, stirring furiously.

[mitesworld]

We had a bad puppy class tonight.

We are currently in 2 classes at different facilities. Neither facility is the one I prefer. Our Sunday night class is purely positive, fun, happy, slightly chaotic puppy class with play group. Our Tuesday night class is less balanced and more physical corrections. There's a rally class happening in the ring immediately next to the puppy class ring, and rally dogs waiting their turns outside of the puppy class ring.

I have never seen my puppy so frantic. At first I thought she was a little overstimulated and we could pull it together. She had a hard time focusing on me. She spent a good portion of the first half of class at the end of her leash, which is not a place she makes a habit of visiting. She started scratching herself and biting at her flanks, and then she stopped taking treats.

The group was working on a lured heel with about turns, except the instructors never wait for anyone to get their pups into a good starting position. The group gets jumbled fast, and several dogs came extremely close to Dinah. She wants to play with them. Out to the end of her (shortened) leash she went.

She peed in class. She has never peed out in public or in a class. I had to go out of the puppy ring to find the bucket where they keep the cleanup supplies. With as overstimulated as she was, I had to pick Dinah up to wade through the waiting rally dogs immediately outside the ring. One woman with a Bernese Mountain Dog gave me a look and said "you're not going to be able to do that much longer". I wrestle dogs for a living. I think we'll be just fine.

Once I got her mess cleaned up, I carried her out of class. We went outside to a patch of grass next to the building and I was going to let her sniff before we went home. I find this helpful with all of my dogs. She pooped while she was outside, and then started offering me behaviors for treats. I started to think perhaps her problem was that she had to poop. She sniffed for a few more minutes. I decided to take her back to class.

For the first few minutes we just worked on paying attention to me. She was heavily rewarded for offered eye contact and was doing amazing. Our instructors like to end the class on a recall exercise, which I hate for a number of reasons.

Today I hated it because the instructor holding my puppy manhandled her. Dinah had a very hard time waiting in line with other dogs. I should have left, but I was too overwhelmed. I handed Dinah's leash to the instructor on our end of the ring. She let Dinah repeatedly hit the end of her leash and tried to force her rear end into a sit. Dinah was frantic until I called her. Of course she came to me.

As I'm typing this, the Bernese Mountain Dog lady is walking her dog right next to my car. I'd like her to find somewhere else to walk.

I set my puppy up to fail by coming back to class tonight. She had already given me all the signals she could give that she simply could not handle it. I should have taken her home. I think we have 2 weeks left of this class, and I don't think I'll be returning for them.

I feel the need to attend and "prove" that she and I can do it. In reality, I don't owe anyone at this club anything. I don't need to prove to anyone that Dinah can handle puppy class. I know she can. I don't think it's worth suffering through a class that sets her up to fail every week.

[transhuman-priestess]

You asked for weird asks!

Do you have any story ideas that you feel you can't do justice, or are for a medium you don't work in?

oh, so many!

I read oodles of nonfiction, especially about US cold war policy and engineering disasters. In particular i think that the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster cleanup could make a fantastic Tom Hanks Miniseries, as well as the 1980 Damascus, Arkansas Titan II explosion. I'm obviously not much of a screenwriter though.

As for more original stories, there's a lot of things I'd like to write that I just don't because they're so outside of my wheelhouse. The one I can remember right now was some teenager 3D printing a fake cobalt-60 rod and lacing it with a bit of americium from a smoke detector to get out of like, taking some big exam or something. Something like this.

The problem I never could figure out how to make it be believably funny. Because I know too much about nuclear physics to make it believably serious. There's no way a high school kid could believably fake a high-level gamma source. So it would have to be some kind of stupid comedy bit, but again, I know too much about nuclear physics to make it believable. And I'm absolute shit at writing comedy. Just awful at it.

I've also had to rewrite stories because I wanted to present them in a way that just did not work in text. The one i just posted today [shameless plug] for instance, it has two narratives taking place at disparate locations, and I really wanted to intercut them very heavily, like overlaying a speech of one character's on the actions of another in a movie or a film. And I kinda tried to do the sort of line break you see with the triple asterisk (* * *) but it felt like too much of a pause between the cuts. If you ever ripped a CD with iTunes in the early 00s, it had a setting where it'd add like, a second of silence to the end of each track and so when you burned your friend a CD it would be just slightly off. It read kinda like that.

In the end I ended up identifying a couple of points in each plotline where it made sense to split it, and alternated between them, ABAB style. It worked really well.

Lately I've actually been trying to lean into "I don't know how I'm gonna make this work." And honestly it's been really fun and produced some great results.

Anyway, at this point I feel like the expectation would be that I apologize for going on so much about this one, except that I know you well enough that I'm sure you're delighted at the granularity of detail provided.

So instead, I'll say thank you, for sending such a good ask! Love ya bestie <3

[residentdormouse]

"Invite me" for the ask game! :)

💖 Thank you for the Ask!! 💖

Alright, so trying to stick with canon only interactions for another one. Going with Teddy and Harold for this. Also posted on Ao3 if its preferred for reading:

Playing the Long Game

Fandom: The Stand

Characters: Harold Lauder and Teddy Weizak

Words: 859

(Drabble Prompts - Original Post)

"Hawk! Hey!”

Harold stopped mid step, but hesitated turning around. Unexpected interactions always threw him for a loop, and Teddy was no exception. Despite his playful nature, Harold was sure the man had to have something going on behind it all. He had to. They all did. Humanity. Nasty little tendencies behind the veneer. Some just took longer to reveal themselves.

Footsteps could be heard behind him. One last attempt was made to fix his expression, adjust his mask as it were, but he had already spent too much time in his head. Before he could turn, he felt the grip on his back. The light shake that rippled through his body. The laughing echoing in his ear as Teddy’s arm rested across his shoulders in a half hug. Little choice was left in the matter, and Harold reluctantly followed in step as Teddy continued to walk forward, oblivious to any resistance.

"Couple of us are going down to the dorms. Use the generator to set up a movie night. Whaddya say?"

"Oh, that's… I'm not sure—"

"C'mon, everybody needs a little break here and there!"

But that’s what Teddy failed to realize; this wasn't a break. Not to him. What Teddy was proposing was entering a social battle that required constant vigilance. Anticipate the moves, blend into the background when possible, and strike only with a sure bet. Practiced movements and rehearsed repertoire. Break? Exhausting is what it was, and Harold certainly didn't have the energy to put up a front for that long. Not after a full day of cleanup.

The thought of the daily activities only ushered in a wave of fresh memories. Sensory recall he wished he could will away. Smells that would threaten to upheave anything he managed to put down. Decomposition. It lingered in his nostrils and he could almost taste it. That’s all that was there for him. Death. Disgust…

All things he would put up with to position himself where he needed to. A place to get the most leverage when the time came.

But now… This?

"I don't know, Teddy. After today, I think I just need some time to clear my head."

"And what better way to do that than a little mindless entertainment, yeah? Shut down your brain and enjoy."

"Not sure that's the movie doing that."

Along with the comment, a slight incline of his head was made towards the joint tucked behind Teddy's ear to highlight his implication. As far as vices go, he could think of worse, but it served as perfect ammunition for a shot or two when needed. To break the tension. As a diversion.

Teddy, however, was undeterred. In fact, the jab only served to spur him on more. A twinkle picked up in his eyes as his head cocked to the side, smile bursting from ear to ear. Joy continued to course through him, reaching his limbs as he pointed Harold’s way.

"Ah, got me there!” 

Another flash of enjoyment waved across his features before he fell back into his pitch. “When in Rome, am I right? But seriously, you’re tellin’ me you just want to go back to a dark house in the quiet and…”

Trying to think of the possibilities had already stumped him, and his face crinkled as he contemplated the right option. But while his thoughts had stalled, Harold found the pause began to slowly kill him inside. Building up until he couldn’t take it any longer.

“What? There’s plenty of things. Read. Write.”

“That’s clearing your head? Sounds like fuckin’ work, man.”

“Some of us enjoy that type of thing. You know, the ones that didn’t smoke away our brain cells.”

As the words came out, Harold stiffened. That had been too far. Too familiar. Was retaliation to follow?

But once again, his poking was answered with a goofy smile and a pleasant laugh. One that Harold could find himself adopting. One that now seemed to come naturally. A genuine smile. And a genuine laugh.

For once, interaction wasn’t forced. It had no agenda and it flowed freely.

It was accepted.

“Yeah, yeah. Duly noted. But even those types can still sit back and appreciate the wonder that is Keanu Reeves' career. How’d he get there? Did he know? Mysteries of the universe that can only be answered with another viewing of John Wick. Are you in?”

Before he even knew what he was doing, his head began to nod. Did he just agree to this? What was he doing? 

“Yes! Knew I could count on you! I’m swinging by the station to get a few snacks, wanna help haul?”

And as he followed Teddy around the bend, the first turn straying from his path home, he contemplated his choice. Doing the hard tasks, the dirty work, that was a part of the long game, but he still needed visibility. If he chose the right moves, things like this could provide opportunities to do just that.

The ad hoc had their time now, but people were going to know Harold Lauder. Every dog would have his day.

Maybe there were worse ways to pass the time.

[mazegays]

could've followed my fears all the way down

Chapter 16

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17

Minho keeps an eye on both Gally and Thomas. Gally’s having a good time— Anya won't let him drink (she frowns on any of them drinking, but especially when they've been injured recently), but just talking to other people has relaxed him. Thomas is sitting next to Minho, quiet. Normally he's talking, telling stories and seeing who can make up the craziest one. Other nights, he'll lean into him a little, even when it's not that cold. "Something wrong, Thomas?" He nudges him lightly, trying to get him to respond at all. "Nothing you can fix, it's fine, Minho. A tomorrow problem." Thomas doesn't even try to sound like he's not upset. "Thomas, when you said you'd be here, I thought you'd at least be having fun!" Frypan hands Minho a plate, not really giving him a choice in taking it. "I'm enjoying sitting next to Minho." He goes easily when Frypan tugs him up, joining the wider circle of their friends with ease. Minho keeps watching. Something’s up with Thomas, again. It’s unusual for him not to be able to tell what's wrong. Thomas hasn't said anything is wrong, or anything related to anything that might be wrong. He saves some of the food for Thomas and Gally— he knows they'll be going in earlier than everyone else. Gally’s good at hiding it, but moving still causes him a lot of pain. Thomas is watching Gally, too. Every few minutes, his eyes linger, and then refocus on the storyteller of the moment. After another few stories, Thomas comes back to sit next to Minho. "You know you're not exactly subtle, right?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "You've been watching us all night." "You've been watching Gally, too." "Yeah, but I haven't gotten caught. I think he’s reaching his limit for the night." Minho takes the chance to really study Thomas’s face in the light of the fire. He’s got dark circles under his eyes; how many nightmares has he been having? Maybe that’s what's wrong, and Thomas doesn’t want them to be worried when there's not much they can do about it. (It’s never that easy.) Thomas doesn’t linger like he has other nights, leaving as soon as they’re settled. Gally’s already asleep. It’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Except Thomas is avoiding them, now, apparently. Their run went fine— neither of them fell, which might actually be their record— and Thomas ate breakfast with them as normal. After breakfast, though? He disappeared. Normally he’ll tell them what he’s doing for the day and promise to come back with lunch. “He probably just had a busy day, Minho. You know how cleanup goes after those fires.” Gally doesn’t seem worried at all. Yeah. They’re fun, but a lot of work the morning after. Minho might be overthinking this. Just a little bit.

He’s proved wrong when Thomas joins them for dinner. “Sorry about lunch, Jorge wanted me to work out an issue with the storage grid. If we can get it hooked to the generator properly it’ll really help.” “Don’t worry about it. There’s a lot to do around here.” Gally says, and Thomas immediately relaxes. He’d really thought they’d be mad at him. “What’s the plan for tomorrow, then?” Minho asks, hoping to distract him. “Probably more of that, honestly. It didn’t go so well today.” “You’ll figure it out, shank.” “Maybe.” Thomas won’t say anything else about it, and he leaves earlier than usual. “He must be really upset about not fixing that grid.” Gally at least looks worried now. Minho doesn’t think that’s it. Sure, the grid is important, but they have the limited power they need. It’s not something that needs to be done immediately. “Do you think he’s going out again? Taking the Flat-Trans?” “No. I don’t think he wants to, and it’d just be stupid of him not to tell us.” finish on ao3 or continue reading

He wants to feel guilty about pushing them away, but he can’t. It’s for their sake. They’ll be better off without him around. It will only take a few days for them to realize that, and then when he gets back, they’ll have figured out a way to tell him nicely. He almost wants to ask for something that will take him back to the ruins, but Anya isn’t letting him go there any time soon, and she’ll probably tell Minho and Gally, who really don’t need to know about it. “Hey, Jorge. How would you feel about me scouting out the forest more? We’ve got everything nearby handled, but even on my runs I’ve noticed things we’ve missed. I could take a week or so, head deeper in, and see what we’re missing.” “This is why we listen to you kids. You think of everything.” Only when he’s trying to. “Minho, I won’t be able to run tomorrow. I’m leaving with a scouting group before sunrise.” “You’re going back again?” Minho looks ready to physically keep him here. “No, just in the woods.” “Who’s going with you?” “Sonya and Aris.” For the first half of the trip, anyway. He knows going alone is stupid, but as much as he likes Sonya, she knows something’s up with him, Gally, and Minho. She’ll ask, and he’ll tell her everything. Thomas doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want her to try and advise him, and he definitely doesn’t want her telling Minho and Gally anything. So he’s just going to think about it, and with Aris there, Sonya will probably leave it alone. <;- 15 17 ->

[watery-pancake]

To me, 2 years ago

Today you're doing the same routine. Playing Stardew Valley on his PS4 while he's at work, and staying at home. Every. Day. The same day again. You've been inside so long the months have begin to blend, especially with the lack of sunlight to your little apartment window. Blocked by the building next to you.

I know you think it'll change. You'll finally get a job and have an excuse to stop seeing him every night. You keep trying to convince yourself you're still that 15 year old girl who was madly in love with this guy. You're not. You're 18, almost 20. You're older, more mature, despite how much he holds you back. He wants to stay the same, never change. He told you that himself. But yet the thoughts always come back, don't they? Maybe he'll change his mind, and be willing to mature with you. You try to convince yourself you don't want to change, to be at the same mental age as him. But you're not the same. I know you want to be, but you're just not. Despite being your senior, you feel older than him.

The sinking gut feeling never goes away. It's not whoever you're in a relationship with. It's you. You'll always feel that envy and jealousy, since you had nothing emotional growing up except abuse. What little effort he puts into this relationship will never improve. All you will get for your birthday is forcing yourself into birthday sex you don't want. You will feel like a body, and not a girlfriend. He says all these sweet things, but the empty promises never go away.

You're right. When you think it, it will happen. Once you stop having sex with him for 3 months due to the pain, these are the words he will tell you,

"We haven't had sex in so long, we might as well not even be dating. You might as well be just a friend to me."

You won't remember this quote until your next relationship. One day you will be lying in bed with your next lover, and realize that even when you're just laying there together in silence, scrolling on each other's phones, you still feel loved. You didn't have sex that day yet, and you remembered what he said. You two then had sex, but it felt different to you. You didn't just feel like a body. You didn't feel scared to stop having sex for some weird reason. You remembered why you ever felt that way. You had sex with him, and by the end, after the cleanup, you two will cuddle together and you will feel his breath on yours. And you will realize, despite how he communicates less than you're used to, you don't need the empty promises to continue a relationship. It's in this moment, you feel as if you were never loved more before than ever. You will cry a little, but in the darkness, he won't be able to tell.

You are loved, and not by someone who thinks a relationship is built off coexisting and saying all these sweet words. Those words mean nothing without actions, and your next relationship will show you that.

I know you promised him that after that relationship you won't date again. You say that every time, don't you? By the time August of that year will come, you will realize that lie. You were never really loved by him. He's too immature to understand adult love. Or love at all. He will forever think a relationship is based off words. He won't buy you a birthday present. The one thing you want, to get pizza and go for a walk. He won't listen to you when you say he's eating too much and will feel too sick for the walk. He will do it, then get mad at you for being mad at him. You will go another birthday crying of loneliness. He won't ever take you on that walk, since it's not important to him, he will forget. You will again beg him to get therapy for his ADHD, and again he will get mad at you for wanting to change him. You will go to bed again, thinking you're stuck in this life, but you're not.

College will change you forever, but too your next relationship. While I'm telling you this, be aware. This next one isn't easy. It feels easy to deal with his mood swings and random bouts of being an asshole, but hindsight is 20/20; it isn't. But things will get better, when he realizes he can trust you. You won't just run away like everyone else. You really do like this guy. I hope things work out with him, and I think you would too. You've never been the type to think the grass is greener on the other side. You know better, since every time you dream, you end up on ice and not grass, and you slip.

College is greener grass. Don't let him hold you back. You wasted a year. Don't let another one go.

Believe it or not, that love you've been chasing for so long? You finally get it. The family dinners, dates to any place you want, being able to annoy each other, sex, and most of all. Being able to look in his eyes, and say I Love You, and when he says it back, you don't get that anxious gut feeling. It feels like he really means it. He shows it. And finally, you know it. And damn, does it feel amazing.

It's hard to leave him, and it will be. More than that, it will be worth it.

The grass really is greener on the other side.

Godspeed, to me.

[sephinot]

Got tagged by @that-one-empty-skull

Rapid fire questions go

1.coke or pepsi? Don't care, just make it sweet

2.disney or dreamworks? DreamWorks def makes the better movies (looking at you, HTTYD)

3.coffee or tea? Coffee unless I'm sick then tea

4.books or movies? Can't decide, either one would be a devastating loss

5.windows or mac? Windows, what even is MAC?

6.dc or marvel? DC bcs Batfamily

7.x-box or playstation? PC Master race

8.dragon age or mass effect? Never played either of them, but dragons are hot soooo

9.night owl or early riser? Switches at random

10.cards or chess? Cards if I'm in a silly goofy mood, chess for serious occasions and special talks

11.chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla

12.vans or converse? My kicks are CAT (and I don't own any other)

13.Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar? I have no clue what that means

14.fluff or angst? Both. Both is good

15.beach or forest? Forest

16.dogs or cats? Cats. And I stg it's not only bcs of warrior cats

17.clear skies or rain? Clear skies

18.cooking or eating out? Cooking...except for the cleanup...

19.spicy food or mild food? Spicy. Can't handle it too well but what's life without pain, right?

20.halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas? I'm blasting Christmas hits in the summer so there you go

21.would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot? Too cold

22.if you could have a superpower, what would it be? Stop time. I'd get so much shit done and still be well-rested for the entire day

23.animation or live action? Animation

24.paragon or renegade? The jeep renegade is a superb vehicle

25.baths or showers? Showering while in a bath

26.team cap or team ironman? I dunno man

27.fantasy or sci-fi? fantasy (star wars is fantasy fight me)

28.do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they?

"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement" - Tolkien (my favourite quote is basically the entirety of LotR I love that books to bits)

"You failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me" - Luke in Ep 6, when he overcomes the dark side

"Mistakes are teachers" - my brother

29.youtube or netflix? Youtube

30.[REDACTED]

[R3D4C73D]

31.when do you feel accomplished?

After a day of work

32.star wars or star trek?

The love people have for star trek is justified and the message and all that runs deeper than most things star wars, but I gotta stay with my first love...

33.paperback books or hardcover books?

Hardcover, looks better on the shelf

34.to live in a world without literature or without music? Either of those means living in a world without me

35.who was the last person to make you laugh?

Some kid at work today

36.city or countryside?

Countryside. With decent wifi pls

37.favorite chips? The kind I can exchange for a ride on a rollercoaster

38.pants or dresses?

Dresses.

39.libraries or museums? Libraries

40.character driven stories or plot driven stories? Character driven tends to resonate better with me

41.bookmarks or folding pages? Folding pages and yes I hate myself for it

42.Dream job? Singer or author

43.What gives you comfort?

Hugs and friends, a sheet of paper and a pen, a good song

44.what are some of your favorite song lyrics?

And today we're all brother/Tonight we're all friends/A moment of peace in a war that never ends

Today we're all brothers/We drink and unite/Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white

Sabaton - Christmas Truce

The silence isn't so bad/Til I look at my hands and feel sad/ Cuz the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly

Owl City - Vanilla Twilight

45.favorite ice cream flavor ever?

Mint/after-eight (and yes I also like pineapple on my pizza and I salt my Nutella)

46.first fandom

First active fandom I participated in was either Eragon/Inheritance Cycle or Star Wars when I schooled a ton of adults at my first con at 7 years (I was an obnoxious child)

tagging others, add your own new question at the end if you follow up:

I'm kind of a lurker, I have contact with like one of my mutuals and I dunno who to tag so yeah...if anyone sees this, consider yourself tagged darling

[the-firebird69]

There's a huge bunch of foreigners coming in and some of the three are aware of it most of them are not and they are rooting everything and it's true and sitting around yapping and yapping this morning news

-we have issues here I need them soft I can't keep just plowing through stuff and I'm assigning it and I need you to move on it very fast we have to get this out and without these things being handled they won't get out they simply wait half a day and it clogs up and slows down and wonder why so I'm putting on their urgent and when it has to be done I'm sending it right now

-several other things are happening here we have movements on all sorts of stuff all at the same time even things we've been pushing for and it will be a lot to handle all at once people are trying to get him money and they're trying to get him to move to another state and it's because of this rain s*** and basically it's California because you have foreigners there and they handle a lot of the load globally out here it seems foreigners are not handling the load and don't consider their territory or places they can access and it's becoming very obvious and people feel it was a mistake and the foreigners were locked out and teamed up against the warlock and it didn't work out for either party foreigners are starting to realize that these people are pretty big still and the stupid clones

-there's other things happening I'm to issue is health report separate and status he knows what it is it's terrible and I will say that hopefully for the last time because he wants me to issue it separately and keep it in house that no reason except it's taking too much time

-we have other things happening and we have to get to it right now we have 300,000 people from the interior going to the first rain and they're going to the first ring we don't want the rings here but these people are belligerent and needed to be limited they tried to take advantage of it now the rings are back to a size that works for both parties and the morlock don't get it

-there is extremely heavy fighting in the 18th ring it's almost too heavy it's not too far from here and we are mobilizing to go there as well and bring more and more hardware and we're going after the morlock and we will hold the pseudo empire at the 18th ring they saw they'll probably try again and they'll get hit and pull back and try again and get hit eventually they'll be gone and the warlock will be gone these battles are very big it's going to be a long cleanup there are other things happening and that's something to keep in mind this place is a mess we need to start concentrating on here more I'm putting it out there now

-and we know his status but I'm putting down what he's saying it makes a lot of sense in essence he is under house arrest and he cannot leave Charlotte county and there's more than one party enforcing that and it's for a reason it's for a reason and his code and it's also to bother him and he doesn't like these people but he's not cracking but he's going to be angrier than hell all the time like he is now and they have no sense or sensibility we have to come here and restore it

-there's a huge amount of people wondering what we're talking about and they don't need to know

-there is a problem here with communications I don't want people listening to these assholes for any reason or any Satanist they do not ever tell the truth or just come from us

-besides firing government workers and other they are going after the judges it is a pain in the ass in court and they are laying off judges today there were five they laid off three they're laying off one more the only judge left will be judge John Riva Lord who is a criminal we also going on firing actually the three are firing the bailiffs and other to three ring circus along with that they're firing the rest of the representatives personnel for the state and another half again of the federal government's Representatives personnel and they're going after the governor's office again they did send him a letter vacate by this Friday and it's this coming Friday and it's only one day away and they mean for him to vacate the office all his personnel all of his personal stuff and records and to publicly announced he is no longer governor and to hand over the governorship and they do mean it not Michael one but he likes Michael too and he'll get him some whiskey and he'll remember who he is and he remember who himself is he means.

-yeah she was the things to talk about we have a few other things to talk about the sheriff's office is a blaze but we need to changed and that the the three issue the statement saying it's false and bja is in there trying to issue it and they found it in the computer and they're trying to pull it off and having a fight and they're going to go after John greenbelord computers it's part of BJ's plan so it says why don't you send Brad he's a dick to both of us so he's sending Brad on the light cycles to take care of the computers and Brad says that's a good idea I can get caught with it out here

-and there's a couple more things we have a little bit of time now so I'm going to belt it out. But not that so we sometimes get frustrated but here is a lot more than we need to and we don't want to put up with it it's not cover it's bothering the s*** out of us and it's because these people are doing it on purpose so I'm putting out new orders now

-my son is a lot of problems and we need people to work on each one and we need teams and if you're the teams we need to report in you need to be hiring tons of people globally we need people everywhere and it works and not just sitting there watching people

-it says I guess we have to work but here in Charlotte county there's a few more things that are odd happening they are arresting people for sitting around on park benches and for more than like an hour and it doesn't say that anywhere and people are getting mad at these a****** cops and the three are up for it they can't stand them either they have some people for nothing they're going around driving around following our son and harassing him and it is horrible they did it in Port Charlotte and they're doing it here and our son wants to sue them all the time and we were going to but I told reminded us they had an army here then we would be possibly trapped he says can we do it with the teleconference suing and they said no they're not sophisticated can we call them unsophisticated and get it done and he said maybe so he tried and they said no so then he said this so you're afraid to come here is your boy in trouble and said yeah since how's it feel to be invincible and he said how do you feel to be invincible and he shut up so our son starts playing the song to him he says how do you like to be in jail today since how'd you like to be dead today because you're going to go to prison cuz we're going to arrest you shortly cuz we know what you're doing which is quite and f*** you loser vital and got his wife got up in his face and said what he's saying is arrest you for saying what you said and he came back with people from different groups and arrested him and it was a trumpster and he went to jail and he's still there and he's no longer a judge.

-so they only have one judge left and is John remillard and DJ does not want that and he's also sheriff and he doesn't know what that he's reversed the order on our son but it's still floating around with Trump's idiots and they're going out to arrest him and so are we so are the three so are the Max and foreigners and minority morlock and practically anybody else can imagine and they're going to arrest him too he's some pretty hefty issues going on today my son didn't know about it but he got it out there thinking it was something else

Thor Freya

I'm going to have more later probably an hour

Olympus

Thank God things are changing and it's going to be rough but it'll change

Hera

[corvid-knight]

Demon Eyes - chapter 14

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13740258/chapters/32482539

It's a good two hours before Dirk makes his way out of his room, which means that you're actually in the kitchen, perched on the counter and watching Hal keep two separate chats going, review the damn footage he collected for the thousandth time, and work on some kind of coding project at the same time. Karkat took one look at the shikigami's setup, shook his head, and headed over to start rummaging through the fridge and cabinets.

Kankri's disappeared off to you have no clue where. You do kind of wonder where he went, though.

Then Dirk steps into the kitchen, trying to gather his hair up into a ponytail again and blinking in just-woke-up bewilderment. "Who the hell is the guy asleep in the bathroom?" your cousin asks. "We didn't have—did we do something? Where the fuck did my shirt go? Hal. Hal, you fucking asshole—"

At this point you realize that you should probably alert Hal to the fact that somebody's trying to get his attention, since he's got his headphones on. He huffs and tries to snatch them back when you carefully pull them down, not looking away from the screen until he figures out you won't be giving up that easily.

When he actually gets a look at Dirk, the shikigami relaxes. A lot. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.'" Dirk sighs and shakes his head, pulling out a chair to sit down in and absently tracing his fingers across the web of pale scars across his collarbone. "Did you take my shirt?"

"That'd be Karkat." Hal closes down the screen that's full of cryptic coding shit, cocking his head. "Although to be fair, the shirt was pretty much totaled anyway."

"...why, exactly?"

Instead of answering, Hal asks, "What do you remember about what you've done today?"

Dirk shrugs, brow furrowing as he thinks. "Got up. I didn't really want to, because Jake's prescience was being an asshole last night, kept me up talking about...damn." He shakes his head slowly, his hand moving up from his neck to his forehead. "A job, right? Getting rid of something—some kind of—siren? Except...fuck, Hal, what the hell happened?"

"You don't remember that shit?" you ask him, frowning when he shakes his head. Weird. You remember what happened, now; you got ambushed by what, four of those nasty hybrid things? No, five, because there was one that almost did take you out, after you killed the first one and the other three; you've only watched Hal replay the video of you stabbing the damn thing twenty times.

Dirk just shakes his head, looking even more confused.

Not like you actually remember either, Karkat points out to just you, dropping what sounds like an entire handful of silverware in the sink and coming over to lean against the counter next to where you're sitting. "How do you feel?"

"Confused, obviously." Your cousin shrugs, nodding at the video that's still playing on one of Hal's laptops: Jake reloading, hands moving too fast for the camera to capture as more than a blur, two of the hybrids dangerously close to him. "I'm, uh...I'm guessing we did the job, though?"

"Yeah." Karkat, what the hell do you mean, I don't remember? I remember fine.

"Why the hell can I not remember it, then?" Dirk asks, at almost the same time as you ask Karkat that silently.

The demon huffs and crosses his arms, closing his eyes for just a second. You can feel him working out how to explain shit; it's like a mental sense of a deck of cards being tapped edgeways against a flat surface to order them. "Those fuckers take your short-term memory," he says after a second. "I'm immune, obviously, and so is Hal; the memory wipe's done through their song, and it doesn't do a damn thing to demons. Thankfully."

Yeah, or I'd be dead, you think, and you know that's true even though you're not sure why. "Dude, I remember, and I'm not—"

"You don't remember, idiot." He says it with nothing but affection in his voice, though, and reaches over to pat your hand. "You've been sitting here watching what happened for what, half an hour? You see yourself kill the fuckers, so you know you did kill them. That's what you remember." He frowns, and adds to just you, Trust me, that's for the best. I remember what you don't—

How come?

Because. You showed me when you were fucked up over it, before I did damage control on your mind.

Hal sighs before you can tell Karkat that you do, in fact, want to remember all of whatever happened. You've been trying to figure out why the hell you nearly let that last hybrid take a chunk out of you, after all. When you look over at the shikigami, you see that he's torn between exasperation and amusement. "What?"

"Isn't it usually considered rude to have a private conversation in a public setting?"

Oh. Yeah. Maybe Karkat can split his attention well enough to hold a conversation through the empath link and pay attention to what else is going on, but you really can't. "Oops."

"No oops. He can just shut the hell up." Karkat bares his teeth in a not-quite-grin at Hal, growling very softly with each word. "This barely counts as a public setting, anyway, and Dave's learning. You make him feel shitty about the fact that he is learning, and you're going to regret it."

You're a protective asshole, you think at him. I love it. Sweet as fuck.

That growl softens and turns into something closer to a purr for a second. Good, because I'd rather not quit being a protective asshole to you.

As you lean over to run one hand through Karkat's hair and fuck it up as much as you can, Dirk points out, "I still don't have a fucking clue what happened. Or who the guy in the bathtub is."

You don't have any idea what the answer to the second question is, but Karkat does. "That'd be my brother. He'll be fine, that's normal." He growls playfully at you, letting you mess with him for a second before ducking away from your hand. "Show him the videos, Hal. His and Jake's, preferably at the same time. Come on, Dave."

You slide off the counter as the shikigami nods and starts tapping at his laptop. "Come where?"

"To help me finish making food, duh."

For whatever reason, Dirk doesn't end up even kind of remembering the whole fight, even after watching the footage repeatedly. He flat-out refuses to let Jake watch it, either, and Jake doesn't really argue. It's weird, seeing how much he trusts Dirk. You're not really sure why.

But Jake and Dirk are fine, and that's pretty damn important. Kankri sleeps for almost a full day, and when he does wake up he just sort of disappears. He's still around somewhere, close-ish—Karkat grumbles out a half-explanation, something about Kankri being more into the whole family thing than he is. Which you get. At least the angel's not being all that pushy about it right now.

Anyway. Two days. You have godawful dreams that you can't quite remember, full of weird bright singing tones, but Karkat's there every time you wake up. You can't bring yourself to tell him I love you again in return, which fucking sucks—that's what you're supposed to do, it's fucking true—but he tells you he loves you, mixes that lil' statement in with the other soothing shit that he repeats until you settle again. It's...really good. You don't have words to define how good it is.

Roxy shows up on the third day, about halfway through Jake trying to give Karkat another highly unorthodox tarot reading, both of them trying to ignore the fact that you and John are watching way too attentively, waiting to see what white card he's going to draw next. You just hope it's "Bees?" There's so many jokes that can be made from that card.

When somebody knocks at the door, Dirk's the only one not currently focused on something, so he's the one who goes to answer it. You hear an excited squeal and Dirk go, "Hey, wait—" and then a loud-ish thump.

John looks up. "Oh yeah...guess Rox came to pick Hal up before she goes over for the cleanup."

"My future is not fucking 'horrible laser hair removal accidents,'" Karkat snaps as Jake lays down another card. Go say hi, Dave.

You coming? You kind of wonder if he's worried about Roxy's reaction to there being a demon with you. You know you are.

"When Jake finishes this stupid thing." He growls and folds his arms, rolling his eyes as Jake adds Intimacy problems to the spread. "English, I'm going to destroy your fucking Cards Against Humanity set.

"It's John's," Jake points out absently as you get to your feet.

"Do you think I care?" Karkat groans at the next card, and you have to resist the temptations to just sit down and wait for him to be done.

Stop being a clingy fuck, you tell yourself. Karkat probably heard that, but he makes the wise decision to not call you out on it.

Roxy's more-or-less attached to Dirk in the doorway, arms wrapped around him and laughing in delight. The thump you heard was probably the briefcase lying on the floor where she dropped it. There's two slightly-confused-looking guys just outside, watching the two of them uncertainly.

Well, it's nice to know that Rox hasn't changed beyond letting her hair grow out a bit and dying it bright pink.

Dirk notices you standing there awkwardly after a second, and deftly extricates himself from her hold. "Yo, Dave."

When she hears your name, Roxy's eyes go wide, focusing on you with an expression that's both surprised and (again) delighted. "Holy shit, Dave!"

Oh fuck.

She's got you wrapped in a tight, peppermint-scented hug before you can do more than open your mouth. Thankfully, it lasts maybe two seconds; then she's pulling back, holding you out at arm's length and grinning at you. Okay, the snakebite piercings are new, too. And cute as hell. "Damn, Davey, nobody told me you were here! Is Bro here too, then? Becuase if he is I'm gonna kick his ass for taking off for this long, making me miss out on the whole timespan when youcouldn't kick my ass—"

"Translation to normal-people-speak: 'hi Dave, I missed you, you got taller,'" Dirk interjects dryly, retrieving the briefcase. "If you feel like kicking someone's ass, go after Hal, since he obviously didn't fill you in on, uh. Current events."

Roxy glances at him, raises her eyebrows, and obviously sees something in his face that tells her to not ask. Instead, she grins at you again, letting go of your shoulders and instead slinging an arm across them. "Guess he didn't. Want to help me kick his ass, Davey?"

"Nah." You have to grin back and lean against her. Dammit, you're still a hair shorter than she is. What kind of justice is this? "Maybe later. Or like, we can go find something that actually needs its ass kicked, let you take out your aggression on that."

"Dirk would like that. Make me do the work." She gives him a wicked grin, squeezing your shoulders gently before letting you go and taking her briefcase back. "That'd mean he has to be the one who handles the aftermath, though, and I dunno how that'd work out."

"Badly," Dirk supplies, leaning over to look past you, at the guys still standing outside. "You two know you're allowed to come in, right?"

"Come in or wait, whichever you want, but I just wanna pick up Halexander and go do my job right now." Roxy smiles too-sweetly at Dirk, and laughs when he sighs. 'Yep, when I come back I'll be annoying the shit outta you for a couple days at least. My social calendar's clear, and I want to catch up with Dave."

"Did I complain?" Dirk asks you rhetorically as Roxy brushes past him to get to the main room. He's smiling, though, just a little.

"I don't think anybody wants to complain here," you tell him. Then you have to stop yourself from going tense in response to the very strong surge of surprise and startlement you get from Karkat.

It's an understandable first reaction to Roxy's personality, after all.

What isn't understandable is the fact that Karkat says he wants to ride along with Roxy for the cleanup. And that he immediately tries to tell you that you need to not come along.

You look at Roxy, try to decide if you're allowed to try and defend your point, and realize that you don't have to, at least not so she can hear. Instead of saying anything, you meet Karkat's eyes and frown at him. I'm coming.

The demon opens his mouth and closes it again, scowling right back. You're not fucking coming, Dave.

You're not going without me. You don't think about why exactly the thought of him going somewhere without you freaks you out this much. If you did think about it, you'd be admitting how fucking clingy you are, how stupid it is that you feel like if he leaves you'll never see him again. That you're going to be alone, no Bro, no Karkat—

"Dave," Karkat says softly. When you focus on him again, he continues. I'm not going to leave you. You wouldn't be alone, anyway, there's Dirk—

Yeah. That's your family, Dirk and John and Jake, Roxy and Rose, all the hunters. All the shit you've been told about being alone if Bro died or if you left him, that was bullshit.

You know that.

You also know that you're not letting Karkat walk out of here without you right now. Can't fucking do it.

"I'm coming," you tell him again, and cross your arms and wait for the argument.

Instead, he leans forward and cups your face in his hands, eyes searching your face. There's going to be blood, Dave. I know you don't like that.

...yeah. There was a shitload of blood in the video, you "remember" how fucking messy everything was, but. I'll be fine, man. Walking out is always an option, right?

"Exactly. And if you need to take that option, you better fucking do it." Karkat nods and lets go of you, turning to Roxy. "So you have spots for Dave, me, and Hal, right?"

She cocks her head to one side, looking between the two of you curiously, but nods. "Yeah, of course—worst case scenario is that Ethan or Rick rides in the back, but I'm pretty sure we have seats for everybody."

Karkat glances at you, and the corner of his mouth twitches up the slightest bit. You could always sit on my lap, Dave.

Roxy raises an eyebrow at your laugh, but she doesn't ask for an explanation. Just leads the way out to her vehicle.