#we ain't got no money !!!

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 12

PREVIOUS

If there was one thing no one would ever guess about FF it is that he unapologetically LOVES Black Friday.

You may be thinking. Ugh Black Friday. Everyone is so rude and tired. The deals aren’t even that good. It can turn into a blood sport at the drop of a hat over a toaster that is 15% off.

You are correct.

That is why FF loves it.

It is the one shopping day of the year where every single one of his instincts are correct, valid, and useful. He has pulled his gran out of the way of elbow drops, he has avoided the gaze of a woman in PINK sweat pants who was looking for someone to steal a blender from, and he knows without a doubt that the cashier hates him already so there’s no need to worry about whether or not they hate him.

It’s like a breath of fresh air!

Everyone is just as antagonistic and awful as he thinks they are!

Shopping is actually the blood sport he always feels like it is!

So there he is standing in a line at the nearest store (Target) waiting to be let in with the masses who all look ready to stab one another for better positioning for a TV. The jokes on them though because his only goal is the grocery section and he deals with the threat of repeated stabbings for BREAKFAST.

He spots an IHOP in the distance and hopes his gran doesn’t feel too lonely. They’ve gotten buttermilk stacks together at the IHOP by the mall for years after the two of them finished Christmas Shopping.

Someone elbows him in the side to get his spot in line but FF does not really care. Again, he doubts any of these people are going to be racing him to the all purpose flour.

It’s 4 AM and the barricades come down.

There’s a rush of people pushing and shoving but FF just steps to the side and watches as they all rush in. He’d mostly stayed in the line because the throng of people made it easier to stay warm. He had left his jacket back at the house because the five hour energy might be making his skin feel super sensitive but he is pretty sure that if he wore his nylon jacket he would die.

The five hour energy also may be upping his anxiety just a little bit.

He walks into the store at a leisurely pace and while the crowd fights over the carts he grabs one of the baskets. He can feel the eyes of other shoppers all wondering if he has some insider knowledge on a good deal that would only require the basket or if it’s a matter of who gets to the back to receive the ‘redeem’ coupon.

He sees a few shoppers get lured in by his siren call and much like a siren following anything that FF is about to do will undoubtedly lead to their downfall.

But FF doesn’t care about that.

He cares about HIS downfall.

So he makes his way to the grocery section and ignores the six different shopping assistants who try and guide him to where he ‘should’ be shopping and each of them only give him increasingly confused looks when he states his intention to go to the grocery section every single time.

Is it easier to ignore their stares when the five hour energy have set his baseline heart rate to something that might be too fast to register as a heartbeat? Maybe.

It is easier to ignore the confusion on their faces when he can see both the past (he asked for TWO favors from Andrew in one day how is he still alive???) and the future (still malleable at the moment apparently. There’s even a future where Andrew actually just is trying to make overtures of friendship but he dismisses that one as INCREDIBLY unlikely and looks at the far more viable one where Andrew at least makes his death quick while he enjoys his great gran’s brownies.)

It’s good to set reasonable goals for yourself.

So he arrives at the grocery section which is deserted aside from one employee who may or may not be asleep against a shelf. FF looks and….not a shelf he needs so he is not about to wake that poor man up.

So he gets everything he needs for his great gran’s brownies (he’s trying to buy his life here so he is not about to assume he can use ANYTHING in the house), the ingredients for a good breakfast (because he really needs to eat something that is not a five hour energy or sugar for the sake of his poor stomach and he may as well get enough for everyone), and (since Captain Neil mentioned it & he is trying to buy his life here) the ingredients to bake another pie.

While he grabs cinnamon he checks to see if they have grandma’s love in stock but, alas, it continues to be unavailable commercially.

He stares at the whipped cream for so long that the employee asleep in the other aisle woke up and asked if he needed help and, startled, he dropped it in his basket. “No I’m good.” He says before power walking out of the grocery department and deciding to brave the Home Goods section to buy some incense so that he can hopefully channel the spirit of his great gran to assist him in this, the darkest of his baking hours.

He arrives at the check out stations and finds the shortest line .

He can feel eyes on him, inspecting his purchases, judging them, judging him, who the fuck goes grocery shopping during the Black Friday rush?

FF.

FF goes grocery shopping during the Black Friday rush.

The cashier looks for hidden cameras but FF has no such thing accompanying him today or ever (as far as he knows.)

After a moment the cashier must look at the ever growing line and decide that whatever scheme they think FF is up to isn’t worth trying to figure out. They offer a membership card, FF valiantly declines to get one despite the two attempts.

He is out the door with four bags of groceries that all have a target on them that feels a little too correct. It’s 6 AM now (he really did lose a lot of time at the whipped cream section) and he’s walking back to the house in Columbia.

He actually feels a little bit better since he at least got to experience his actual favorite blood sport (sorry Exy) and he even got another 2 five hour energies while he was in the check out line so he could replace some of the ones that he had gone through.

“Smith?”

He would like to thank the combined weight of the groceries for keeping his feet on the ground when he heard Captain Neil’s voice.

He turns and Captain Neil is looking at him wide-eyed in his running gear that Smith has seen him in. “You were shopping??” He asks.

FF nods and lifts up the four bags as evidence. “Why didn’t you pick up your phone?” He asks.

FF almost scoffs but he doesn’t, “You can’t be distracted when you’re in a Target on Black Friday. That’s how you take an elbow to the eye.” He responds because it’s like Captain Neil has never experienced the WWE-like environment of Black Friday shopping.

Captain Neil blinks at him.

“Text Andrew or me next time you’re going to go off into the night or just let us know beforehand. Andrew would have driven you.” Captain Neil says and grabs two of the bags out of FF’s hand. “C’mon let’s get back and maybe you can get some sleep.” Captain Neil sighs.

“I’m fine.” FF adjusts the bags so he has one in each hand.

Captain Neil does not say anything so FF assumes that he has accepted that.

***

FF had not been asleep on the couch when Neil had walked through the living room. Neil, in a move that had Andrew fully waking up, went back to the room to check his phone to see if FF had texted him an update on going out. All that greets Neil is the impersonal series of texts that mostly confirmed when practice times had been changed, when the bus was leaving, and spelling on various Spanish words.

FF isn’t a big text person.

He’s more of an in-person kind of friend.

Neil likes that about him most of the time.

“What.” Andrew asks face still half buried in Neil’s pillow.

“Smith isn’t on the couch.”

That has Andrew getting up despite the early hour and their activities the night before. Neil watches as Andrew grabs his own phone to scroll through but seems to come up with the same lack of communication that Neil does.

Andrew does do the extra step and hit the call button.

But all he gets is the confirmation that the VM has not been configured that has greeted them every time FF misses their calls. (Voicemails make FF anxious so when he got his new phone he just…never configured it.)

Neil knew that FF was not pleased with them and somehow the calm request to either stop fooling around or let him out had hit him and Andrew harder than any of the screaming demands that the two of them were usually met with from Nicky, Kevin, Aaron, or any of the other Foxes.

“You said he wasn’t mad.” Neil says.

“He nodded.” Andrew confirms.

“Maybe he went on a walk?” Neil tries as they come out to the living room. They look at the front door and find that it’s locked but it looks like Aaron’s keys are gone. “He probably is going to come back if he took Aaron’s keys since Aaron wouldn’t be the one he’d be irritated with.” Neil rationalizes.

“He didn’t bring his jacket.” Andrew says looking at the black jacket still on the hook by the door.

“We can go and see if we spot him.” Neil offers.

Andrew nods and Neil heads out first since Andrew is still in his sleeping clothes and will need some time.

Neil had not expected to find FF walking back to the house with groceries for breakfast and the pie that Neil had mentioned hoping they could bake at the house.

“Is this for the pie?” He asks looking down at what was in the bags he was carrying as the walked back to the house. Neil managed to shoot off a quick text letting Andrew know that it was fine, FF just went grocery shopping.

FF just nods, “Got everything but Grandma’s love.” He says.

FF is a nice guy to brave the stores on a morning like this but FF also looks like he hasn’t slept a wink.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Neil asks.

“I’m fine.” FF repeats.

Neil really is starting to understand his friends’ hatred for the phrase.

They get back to the house and Andrew is sat out in the living room. FF stops and blinks at the sight of him sitting there.

It is a well-known fact that Andrew does not willingly wake up early most days unless he has to. Neil is glad that Andrew has a friend that he’s coming to care about the way Andrew cares about FF.

Andrew gets up and yanks the bags out of FF’s hands. “Go to sleep. Today will be irritating if you’re half-asleep.” He says with a scowl and walks to the kitchen to put away the groceries FF had bought.

FF just looks at where Andrew had gone uncomprehendingly for a few moments and Neil figures he’s just tired. Neil feels guilty that him and Andrew messing around in the car like that had rendered FF unable to sleep and the two of them had agreed last night that from now on when FF is in the car they can talk all they want but hands stay on the wheel and eyes stay on the road.

FF is plopped down on the couch when Andrew and Neil come out of the kitchen after putting away the groceries (“These are the ingredients for brownies.” Andrew had noted as he put away melting chocolate.) and he’s looking through his flashcards again and not sleeping. He hears Andrew make a disgusted noise next to him and the next thing he knows Andrew is smacking the cards out of FF’s hands.

“Go. To. Sleep.” Andrew enunciates.

FF stares at him, then down at the flashcards. “I don’t think I can.” He says which is better than him lying and saying he wasn’t tired even if the truth had Andrew’s mouth stretch into a thin line that meant he was beating himself up for something.

“Try.” Andrew orders. “Just lay down and close your eyes. Nothing will happen to you while you’re sleeping.” He says.

FF blinks but nods turning on the couch and laying down. The blanket is still over on the lazy boy that Neil had set it on the night before and Andrew rolls his eyes before grabbing it and tossing it over FF.

“Thanks.” FF says before closing his eyes.

Neil looks to Andrew who nods and Neil accepts that there’s nothing else to be done for now and heads out on his run.

***

FF can admit that he’s a bit adrift in what Andrew and Captain Neil are doing right now.

He really should go grab another five hour energy because falling asleep IN FRONT of an irritated Andrew Minyard feels like a death sentence but “Nothing will happen to you while you’re sleeping.” And having a blanket thrown over him did not feel like a threat even if he can feel Andrew’s eyes watching him.

FF is tired and when he’s tired he tends to make stupid decisions. So FF lets himself drift off to sleep while the man who was likely going to move him to a secondary location sat and watched.

His dreams are not peaceful.

He’s running, can’t escape, an echo of words he should have considered before letting himself drift off and he knows he’s going to DIE.

He wakes up with a start to the smell of bacon, eggs, and hashed browns with Nicky standing over him. “Hey there sleeping beauty! I made you a plate!” He says and hands FF a plate of breakfast that smiles up at him with a bacon mouth, egg eyes, and hashed brown hair.

FF takes the plate and digs in immediately. He needs his strength.

“Today will be irritating if you’re half-asleep.”

Andrew Minyard was going to hunt him for SPORT.

NEXT

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As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly? (Cheesecookie whatever you did let me actually select you this time)

[xylofondue]

I absolutely HATE the OM update

like wdym we have to pay for romance in a dating sim

[tigwalen]

ᎤᎦᎹ ᏧᎳᏍᎩ ᎦᎶᏍᎬ ᏓᏩᏙ. ᏥᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᎴ ᏍᏗᎩᏘ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏥᏬᏂ. ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ ᏍᎦᏚᎩ ᎣᎦᎳᎰᎹ ᏥᏁᎳ. ᏗᏔᎷᏣ ᎠᏬᏢᏅᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏥᏬᏂᏍᏗ ᎦᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ ᏥᎸᏉᏗ 🧺♥️. ᎠᎩᏯᏪᎪᎢ.

ugam julasgi galosgv dawado. jijalagi ale sdiggit jalagi jiwoni. jalagi ayeli sgadugi oklahoma jinela. ditaluja awohlvnhdi ale jalagi jiwonisdi gadelhgwasdi jilvkwd. agiyawegoi

My name is soup. I am Cherokee and I speak a little Cherokee. I live in Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. I like to make baskets and learn to speak our language. I'm always tired.

My grandmother ᏥᎨᏒ and the community I learn from speak a dialect, my Cherokee may not look like yours - it's an opportunity for us both to learn

I do not vet family history, I do not provide information for your world building/ocs, and I will not translate on request. If you are learning the language you may ask questions but I'm not here to teach anyone, I work a very stressful job and I live in the state of Oklahoma - I am selective about who I have in my space. I do not allow minors to follow me.

If you claim to be Cherokee and you have not proven your ancestry through our enrollment records (Freedmen excluded*) - I do not want you following me. First and foremost I am a Cherokee person trying to live and I will advocate against misinformation and false stories regarding our tribe and culture - this is how we protect our sovereignty.

[rainingincale]

.

[buggotbrain]

beyoncé announcing a tour rn. girl the tarrifs

[cappucosmico]

mmm if i asked for like 12 dollars on here to cover wifi would anyone be willing to spare... sniffles

[im-just-a-dumb-gay]

Ritchie Rich but it's Sonadow cause why not

I love the parents they're so cute together.

This movie is so good!! And it's free??!!!

[firesnap]

Oh no she got him by calling him her favorite superhero

He is a superdad.

[bitchy-peachy]

Me: if you eat that candy from that altar you're gonna die or wish you were dead.

They: *laugh*

Me:

[bywandandsword]

In Cult of the Lamb I've killed two Bishops so far and I'm loooooooooving it. After the first day when I literally did nothing else, I started making myself take breaks, just for general wellness and to make sure I become aware of the passage of time again. But also half the time I'm not playing I'm watching Demon Mama's play through for tips and tricks (Demon Mama is great in general y'all should check her out). So far it's been really validating honestly, I don't play video games much so in parts that I struggled, I thought it was just that I sucked, but turns out, the bats in the Darkwood are genuinely tricky and the claw weapons are the Worst

Also upon finding out that the Lamb is canonically nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, they immediately moved to the top tier of my favorite characters list and I decided I got to be them for Halloween. So of course I've been looking into ways of making hoof shoes and I found a pattern on Ravelry that I'm going to use to knit their fleece, and I planned how I'm going to make the rest of the outfit as well, and ll the little details and props, and I don't even need a wig! I can just use white temporary color on my own hair!

Ugh, I'm just having so much fun!

[todayisafridaynight]

aoki fans v majima fans in the copium competition who's winning

[tenrose]

Since I finally read at a higher rate with regularity, I'm really pissed that the thing getting between me and my books is my job but also I need that job to buy books, and you know food and pay bills but whatever

[possibly-in-wonderland]

helping my grandma sell 170+ barbies and i had to log them all (twice, once by hand and once by computer)

needless to say if i ever see another barbie (aside from trixie mattel ofc, love herrr) i will kill everyone on this planet and then myself

[victorluvsalice]

As previously promised, this week’s Sims 4 Wednesday is the first of two Building Interludes -- and this one shows off a just-for-fun build that I made following the second January patch (while waiting for clearance on some of my mods). This is a build inspired both by Corpse Bride and my Valicer In The Dark AU -- specifically, this is supposed to be roughly what Victor, Alice, and Smiler’s lair in Six Towers looks like, which is itself based on Elder Gutknecht’s house from CB. At least, what little we see of the entire structure in that one wide shot. XD I basically went for aping the general shape -- a tower stuck onto the side of a giant right triangle, with a cage-like glass roof at the top of the tower -- then just trying to make a workable living space from there. (With, you know, stuff like “the stairs going up the tower are on the INSIDE.”) I ended up doing the nicer, “they’ve been living there for a while and have fixed the place up to their liking” version because that’s what I felt like at the time, but I may go back and do a “original crumbling wreck” version too in the future. The build is very much a mish-mash as I both wanted to use furnishings that looked a bit older and more wrecked AND ones that had some color in them to offset the dark gloominess of the walls and floor. It’s not a perfect build, but I’m reasonably happy with what I created! We have:

-->A magical study atop the tower, with desk, cauldron, and bookshelves -- plus the cool hovering crystal lights and those sweet stained glass Realm of Magic windows

-->A little greenhouse out the back, with multicolored planters, a woodworking bench, and a juice fizzer; next to a yard with a chicken coop and a laundry bucket and line

-->A simple dining room with a big old fireplace and lightly-mismatched chairs

-->A very yellow kitchen (Smiler VERY MUCH wanted color in here) all in Cottage Living style with appropriate clutter

-->A bathroom tucked behind the stairs, with toilet, shower-tub combo, and pedestal sink in vaguely coppery tones

-->A “creativity nook” on the other side of the stairs, with an easel, a guitar, and a piano (those rose petals under the easel are supposed to be paint splatters)

-->A small living area by the front door, with piled wood for a coffee table but super-colorful furniture (again, blame Smiler)

-->And the bedroom, where I leaned hard on the Realm of Magic stuff -- I couldn’t resist putting in THE fanciest bed. (And yes, just one -- Elder Gutknecht lived alone in life, so the trio ends up awkwardly trading it off for a while. . .and eventually just sharing it)

Like I said, the build is a mish-mash, but it’s kind of supposed to be -- like, the idea was that this was largely stuff they’d taken from junk heaps or bought from others like themselves and fixed up for their own purposes. And it was fun to make, I gotta say. :) Sometimes you just gotta build for yourself!

[karmaphone]

why did my mother have to move to a desert

[angelfacemjj]

I'm gonna be honest, the concept of inflation makes no sense to me.

Imagine more people wanting to buy your product and your honest reaction is to increase the price of your product so less people will be able to buy it. Man, what's the point? What is the point of that????