#like literally... a lot of stuff in my place need fixing and my landlord is being such a pain in the ass | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fxandchill · 2 years

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It's my birthday 💖 life update it's kind of long because I've been going THROUGH IT and need to vent.

I thought by now I'd be moving in to my new apartment and starting my new job but I had a mental breakdown and that was over long story but last year a friend from San Diego asked me to move in with her, then her friend from Ohio wanted to leave Ohio and live in California so my friend asked HER to move in and told me we can live together some other time...so basically ditched me. Then in July her friend thought "hey we should get another roommate" so my friend asked me to live with her AGAIN but the friend from Ohio wanted all this stuff from the apartment like walkability and public transportation (I tried explaining California to her and she wouldnt fucking listen she thinks this is Amsterdam or some shit) and we were looking at no pets allowed places and she had two pets but thought "oh it's fine the landlord wont find out." I wanted to secure a job before moving and her friend is really impulsive and wanted to move right away, she made me feel Bad that we had the same amount of savings and she is down to move and live off savings for a while but I wasn't...so anyways we got offered an apartment that they liked but I didnt and they were like "but if we dont say yes to the first place that approves us we will NEVER find a place" so they ditched me and my friend said "maybe we will live together another time" AGAIN. Funny thing is that same day I got an email from another apartment that approved us. I was so angry at how I was treated by my friend and her friend. My friend apologized and acknowledged she did ditch me for her friend because she seemed so much more ready to move and they both didnt want to wait but I was ready. Eventhough I didnt like the apartment, the budget was decided by them not me, i was too scared to say anything if I disagreed because I thought if I showed any hesitation I was Out so all the apartments had stuff her friend wanted but the stuff on my list like parking was "not a deal breaker" as in if it didnt had what I wanted but had what her friend wanted that was fine. My therapist and i talked and we decided her friend had a lot of red flags for a roommate and its probably good I avoided living with them but now I dont have any roommates...same friend is in a group chat with me and two other friends and when I tried organizing a lil brunch date for my bday they all cancelled on me lol which is fine because I ended up with 3 cats and I'm too busy taking care of them to go.

Sooooo after the roommate shit I got covid and after THAT I found a cat in my backyard. I recognize the cat used to like visit lily but now this cat was skinny and it was a heatwave outside so I took her in. I took her to the vet to check for a chip and she wasnt chipped, so I asked about getting her a check up and spayed and they made me an appointment for next week. After a week, her owners saw her flyer and contacted me. So I gave her back to her owners the day before the vet appointment, I told them I made it and gave them the info to go. I found out the cat is named Momo and is two and not fixed, been pregnant twice, and leaves the house for days at a time so the owners didnt even look for her, they just thought she was off getting pregnant again. I was really upset after meeting the owners, I realized they dont care about their animals and I gave momo back to them. I had a really bad feeling they wouldnt take care of her.

Literally the next day my dad went and adopted two kittens. I told him we should wait but he saw one on the shelter website and if he waited the one he wanted would be gone, then he ended up getting her and her sister. Their names are Zoë and Chloe and they're really great kittens. Just after a week and a half of having the kittens, momo's owners contacted me again and said they're moving and asked if I would take momo. They said if I dont, momo is going to the pound. They do not care at all. My parents said that 2 cats are enough but they dont want momo to go to the pound either so they agreed to try.

Well I texted the owners back and they didnt respond with anything like how it was gonna go, like when do I get her when are they moving etc etc. I couldn't sleep I was so worried, then we found momo in our backyard AGAIN. I called the owners and the carelessness. They were like "oh yea she got out again. No we didnt get her fixed that appointment was the same day I was going back to college so i was too busy. Also we think when she got out she got pregnant again." 1) when I met the owners the first time they knew they were moving and they couldn't go to the vet appointment why didnt they say anything I could have taken her then 2) she was so nonchalant about her cat being pregnant a third time like no consideration to this poor cat going through heat then labor then heat then labor then heat then....?!?! I bet they decided to ask me to take her once they noticed she was starting to look pregnant again probably thought "ugh let's just dump this responsibility on someone else"

So I take momo in, seperate her from the other 2 cats, and get an appointment at the vet....AGAINNNNNN. the owner is still contacting me and OFFERS to pay for it. I ask about momo's history like has she ever been vaccinated (no) so she needs to be spayed and vaccinated, and before that tested for anything that can be transmitted to Zoë and Chloe like FIV (since she was outside gone for days at a time....unfixed and not vaccinated) and dewormed as a precaution. All of this will mean anesthesia and fluids and antibiotics and pain meds which I'm not surprised by, I just had two years worth of that with lily before I lost her last year by now im a pro at giving cats medicine.

Well.....the cost was more than the owner expected because it's an extra charge for spaying pregnant cats and she needed additional stuff. I told the owner about the additional stuff before too and she just said okay let me know what your zelle is. I kid you not, yesterday we got it all done and I paid then zelled the owner and the owner was like "this is too much" I explained each thing in detail, I showed the receipt, I even tried compromising that she pay for just the spay and not the other stuff. No reply. The owner just peaced out, probably ghosted me.

The thing is she offered to pay and every treatment we had to do was a result of their negligence, how could you never take your cat to the vet then give the cat to someone else and put all that on a new owner? Even the shelter where we got the kittens gave us a discount on the spay, and a free vet check up and food and toys to help us get started. The vet I took momo listened to my story and felt Bad so they gave us a discount like almost $200 off. I took lily to the vet enough to know what they charged us was actually not that bad (for everything the total was $549 i put $100 down when I dropped her off and paid $449 when i picked her up). To top it off, way back when I found the owners the first time I found out they had another cat, who I dont like because it ruined our screen door trying to break in and attack lily.

Because of how they treat their cats, their cats have so far 1) damaged my property 2) costs me hundreds in vet bills taking care of what they didnt 3) let loose who knows how many kittens momo and the other cat had. And that's just at my house. My lawyer friend was even telling me to call the c*ps and force the owners to pay for the screen and the vet bills but I hate the pigs and know they won't do anything and even if they did i still dont want to escalate it by bringing in Meanies With Guns into my neighborhood...so my parents agreed and told me to just forget about the owners.

I had all these plans for my birthday week but now I'm taking care of momo and two kittens it's very stressful and tbh I'm overwhelmed as fuck. All this accumulated yesterday after the vet with momo I just had a breakdown. Why does everyone treat me like shit when I try to be nice and do the right thing? My friend ditching me for her other friend, then that friend totally bulldozing me when the three of us were looking for apartments, all my friends cancelling on me for my birthday saying "something came up" when I told them over a month in advance, momo's ex owners walking all over me and genuinely being so oblivious to how awful they are to their cats. This is my villain orgin story.

#personal #long post #cw mental breakdown #life update #kinda hate everyone but cats...cats only friends i have #also i cant find the thing that put the post away under a line im sorry just putting it all out there

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taketheringtolohac · 2 years

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Gameses for the domesticity meme 💖

ty bestie for catering to my need to talk abt the gameses all the time

big spoon/little spoon: the do NOT touch when they fall asleep and they INSIST on not touching when they HAVE to sleep in the same bed... but they always wake up with dickson's arms around cornelius

favorite non-sexual activity: arguing heisting together. they love the thrill of the heist and also sigh. competing with each other so see who can get to the thing they're trying to steal first. but they work REMARKABLY well together and barely even have to speak when they're out on a job because they just Know each other that well

who uses all the hot water: Richardson and he has no shame about it

most trivial thing they fight over: when you're a couple that fights about everything, everything is trivial. but definitely what their best heist was.

who does most of the cleaning: Dix definitely does, like Corn isn't exactly MESSY and he does try to keep things pretty neat just in general because that's what he does but Dix ENJOYS just. vacuum sweep dust mop cleaning the windows type of spotless housework. also they're a freak who changes the sheets every week without fail

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Cornelius because he's not just gonna sit around and wait for things to fix themselves he has to actually Do something

who steals the blankets: Dickson. he's a priss who pouts if they aren't warm enough.

who leaves their stuff around: surprisingly? it's corn. he's definitely way more put together but he just. leaves things places because he knows he'll get back to them eventually.

who remembers to buy the milk: Cornelius. Dix might be the one who does MOST of the home stuff but like Corn is the only one who bothers to check if they still HAVE milk before they start cooking

who remembers anniversaries: CORNELIUS.... he's such a sap about them too like. he's a romantic at heart because he really does just believe in the healing power of queer love and by god has he been denied of it for SO LONG. like he and dix didnt have ANY of this for 40 fucking years and he is going to make a BIG FUCKING DEAL about it for the rest of eternity

Who cooks normally? Richardson for sure. He enjoys it, and sometimes they ALLOW corn to help because frankly they are a nightmare to work with in the kitchen and so very controlling, but on the rare occasion that corn is permitted to help he's very helpful. mostly with making sure things don't get lost, and cutting things up.

How often do they fight? Literally all the time and about EVERYTHING. no couple has ever fought more oh my god. maybe a better question is when DON'T they fight, to which the answer is when someone's taken the last thing they were fighting about too far, or when someone gets hurt.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? well, they basically spent 40+ years "away" from each other, so they've had a lot of time away

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? it's a competition to see who can flag down the server first and get the bill. there is actual fighting involved sometimes, and more than one instance of storming out of a restaurant. they are banned from over 30 restaurants in Charleston.

Who made the first move? Cornelius- when he was younger he had that certain kind of swagger and confidence that rightfully pissed Dix off, and they definitely didn't say NO but they can't believe he got them to go on a date because they LOST the bet on which one of them would get to [insert thing they were stealing] first. They were planning on WINNING and asking him out anyways, he is devastated by his cringe loss.

Who kissed who first? Dickson, to get back at Corn for being the one to make the first move.

Who cusses more? Richardson hands down. Cornelius doesn't curse that much out of SPITE.

What would they do if the other was hurt? Avoid the other person. Like, they do NOT have healthy ways of interacting with each other when the other person gets hurt at ALL and 50 years of blaseball has proven that. It usually starts with the person who gets hurt self isolating, the other one not knowing how to reach them and deal with it and ends up lashing out in public (usually at practice or a game), them getting into a fight, them going back to their separate homes and being upset and sad for the next several months minimum. this is how it's been for decades. they are ATTEMPTING to change that, there is some success. they're trying to "communicate" and "talk to each other" and "not run away from their feelings" or whatever. it's harder than it looks but by god are they stubborn.

Send me a pairing and I'll do this thing for them!

#an ask for The Married ppl AND The Divorced ppl... world in balance...#ONE DAY. IM GONNA WRITE THE SEASON 24 GAMESES FIC. ONE DAY.#also this is the last one i had in my inbox i am taking more but im done for now!#unless someone sends me another which. lol #cornelius games #richardson games #charleston shoe thieves #blaseball #proxy roxy asks

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butwhyduh · 3 years

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Sickening

You looked at the blood in your sink. It was becoming sticky and rust colored at the edge. It probably wasn’t a lot but it certainly looked like it. The fact that you weren’t exactly sure who’s it was made you feel sick. You closed your eyes and grabbed some towels to clean it.

After spraying your sink heavily with antiseptic, you scrubbed your hands clean and left the room. Your boyfriend laid out on the couch. Normally you found it a little funny the way his long body would hang over the arm. Now you were worried.

“Jason,” you asked. What is going on? He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

“I got in a fight. It’s no big deal. You know how assholes in Gotham are,” he said. As if to emphasize his point, the sound of police sirens sounded close by. Yeah, this place was rough.

And Jason certainly looked like he had recently been in a fight. His knuckles were red and raw. He had a bruise blooming on his forearm. And his grey shirt had little specks of black that you couldn’t help but wonder was blood.

“Why are you always covered in bruises? Is that the assholes in Gotham?” You asked, sitting on the coffee table.

“You could say that,” he muttered under his breath. “I guess people just want to punch me. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“You need a bath,” you said. “I’ll throw your clothing in the wash.”

“I’m fine-“

“You’re covered in blood and I’m not sure it’s yours,” you said. Jason slowly rose from the couch and you see that he favored one shoulder over the other one when pushing up. Probably also bruised. Or worse.

He all but stumbled into the bathroom. You started a hot bath. Your small apartment didn’t have a shower attachment. Jason roughly pushed off his boots before grimacing as he pulled off his shirt and threw it in your tiny washing machine. That one was a gift from him that somehow your landlord was totally cool with despite being a complete ass.

His shoulder had nasty red and purple splotches of bruises and there was a small bloody area. He shoved his belt open and pushed off his pants and socks. Jason slid into the tub. He groaned. His long leg had his knees sticking out of the water almost comically.

You bent down and sat on the old tile floor. Someone, probably in the 1920s or something, had out tiny little white hexagon tiles all over the floor next to the claw foot tub. You grabbed a cup and started pouring water on Jason’s chest. He hissed before relaxing. Steam from the tub rose in the cold room.

“I worry about you. Worry what you’re doing. Why you won’t tell me what you’re doing. That you’re in trouble or something. Do you owe a gang money or something? Who hit you?” You asked softly. Deathstroke, Jason thought but he certainly couldn’t tell you that. His hard look soften a little.

“I don’t owe a gang money. Nothin like that,” he said. He couldn’t help but look at your face. You were too pretty, too innocent, too good for his world. He didn’t want you in this. Hell, he shouldn’t have talked to you in the first place because no one lasted long in his life. Jason knew that taking you on a date had been selfish. And everything after that was him being too weak to do the right damn thing.

You took the cup and poured water over his hair. The slight pink color had you grimacing. You didn’t push your questions. It was something Jason loved about you. He was a hard nut to crack and usually what worked best was time and space.

You grabbed your shampoo rather than Jason’s to wash his hair. There was no way that you were going to use his ‘mountain bear scented 4 in one shampoo, conditioner, body wash, motor oil’ when trying to pamper him.

You’d never washed his hair before. He’d definitely never let anyone close to washing him. Shower sex, great. But never something non-sexual and intimate as just being bathed. You ran your fingers through his hair letting the soap rub in. Jason literally felt goosebumps on his skin and he closed his eyes and leaned into your hand. You were the only person that he let touch him and high key, this was the best relaxation he’s ever remembered feeling. You ran your hands through his hair longer that necessary but you could tell that he wasn’t complaining. He groaned a little.

You poured the water over his head and was pleasantly surprised that the water was soapy but clear. At least there wasn’t a lot of blood in his hair. Jason bent and washed his face in the water. He had more stubble growing than he usually did.

“Do you wanna shave your face? I can do it,” you offered. For a fraction of a second his brow creased before he gave you a half smile.

“Not today. I’m good. Thank you,” Jason said holding your hand. He couldn’t exactly say that he didn’t trust anyone with any kind of blade near his face.

“Are you okay? Tell me what’s going on,” You said reaching a hand to his other cheek. His jaw clenched a little and his eyes almost looked hurt. He was thinking of all the people who had died because they knew a secret. Other vigilantes who’d lost their entire families for knowing their secret identity. But at the same time, Jason knew that you wouldn’t stay around forever and the lies were growing. He was going to do one more little selfish thing. He sighed deeply.

“I’ve gotta tell you something but I don’t want to scare you,” he said and his eyes showed so much worry and fear. He genuinely thought he might lose you over this.

“Scare me? Jay, what are you talking about?” You said confused. He inhaled nervously.

“I- I’m Red Hood! Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to say it so loud,” he said. Jason’s eyes searched your face. Your eyes were wide and you were frozen. His breath was all over the place in absolute fear. It was only a few seconds but he prayed for you to speak.

“Did you just say that you’re Red Hood?” You said faintly. Red Hood was infamous. Brutally murdered gang members, rapists, and traffickers. Even once famously fought the dark knight himself. The one continued theme of everything you heard: cold, cruel, and highly deadly. If you saw Red Hood, it was probably the worst day of your life, if not your last.

“Uh... yeah? Yes.” He gulped and watched you. His blue eyes were so round and worried.

“No. I can’t believe that,” you said. Jason, who would read Jane Eyr to you, that fed stray cats outside of the apartment, and was literally the sweetest boyfriend couldn’t be this killer. He looked down with a sarcastic smile.

“I’m Red Hood. That’s me. If you don’t believe me, there is a Glock 26 Gen 4 strapped to my bedside table. There are a few more around,” he said motioning around the apartment.

“You keep stuff here?” You asked with a mad look. Your head was spinning.

“No. Just some protection. None of the Hood stuff is ever here. I don’t want anything that could be found in this apartment. All the stuff here is new and never fired besides a few practice rounds. I try to be as safe as possible so you are never in danger,” he emphasized. You both sat in silence for a few minutes. The only movement was Jason’s fingers running along your hand.

“Why? Why do you do it? Be the Red Hood?” You asked finally. He expected that question but not right away.

“I should probably tell you how it started,” Jason said and he didn’t hold back. He told you about his parents, attempting to steal the rims from the batmobile, becoming Bruce Wayne’s ward, becoming Robin, being killed by the Joker, the lazareth pit, and becoming the Red Hood. By the time he was done, the water was cold and your legs were numb. “That’s why I have bruises and scars. Why I leave sometimes or miss dates.”

“I’m sorry,” you said softly. He gave you a look of confusion. What could you possibly be sorry for? “You shouldn’t have gone through that. You shouldn’t have needed to hide it from me. I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t scare you? You don’t want to run from a murderer?” Jason asked. His eyes searched yours for signs of fear or disgust.

“Is it really murder if they are evil? Or justice?” You said slowly and he winced at that word. Bruce certainly wouldn’t agree. “Every time I hear the question ‘would you kill baby Hitler’ I would. Without question. I would shoot a baby because I would be thinking about 6 million Jews and unknown others that died because of him. The bad guys always get out and make things so much worse.

“You’re going to have to tell me where all the weapons are here. I’m paranoid that I’m going to reach in the couch and grab a sword,” you said with a laugh, standing up. Sure, you were shocked. But that wasn’t going to make you run screaming into the night. Or maybe you were in shock? You’d find out in the morning.

“Swords are more my brother’s thing,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll show you. I’ve been wanting to teach you some self defense too.”

“We’ll get back to your brother being into swords later. But first, let’s get you out of that wet ass tub and into bed. Because I can’t process any more information tonight,” you said handing Jason a towel. He obviously favored his right shoulder when dressing in sweatpants before coming to the bed where he flopped down. The lights in the bathroom flickered and you rolled your eyes. That’s Gotham for you.

“I’ll fix that tomorrow,” Jason said quietly.

“Nevermind that. Do you want an ice pack?”

“No. I want you,” he said and you smiled a little before crawling in the bed. Jason moved around to lay with his head next to your chest snuggling close. It was almost comical the way the big man hugged you and laid in your arms. He needed to be close to you even though your arm on his waist made him clench in pain for a second before you moved to a better position.

“I don’t deserve you,” he said quietly. “You’re way too nice to me. Almost gullible. Like Baby, you live this way?” he said with a smile. His sarcastic defense was back up. You rolled your eyes.

“Maybe I’ve got a thing for the whole bad boy thing. Or that I know last week, you had cereal with water and honestly, that’s the ultimate weakness,” you said back and he gave you a rare grin.

“We were out of milk. Like what was I gonna do? Eat it dry? No.”

You kissed the corner of his mouth and he grimaced.

“Sorry. We should get some sleep. It’s super late,” you said.

“Yeah, sleep. Sounds great,” he said already drowsy. “I fucking love you,” he whispered before falling asleep.

#fns #friday night smut #Jason todd #red hood #red hood x reader #Jason todd x reader #Jason todd angst #Jason todd smut #batboys

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saksukei · 3 years

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seungcheol neighbor au

masterlist

it was no secret that choi seungcheol was the most handsome man to ever exist and also,,,, the strongest,, like he was a LITERAL HUNK

he lived on the apartment right in front of yours so you met him pretty often,, with just the occasional ‘hello’ and ‘good day’ type of convos

so you were heading to your apartment after being let off early from work because you had caught the worst cold eVER like literally there was snot everywhere and they were like pls go home

you got into your apartment, changed your clothes and grabbed fifty blankets and sat down on the couch

you had a really bad coughing fit,, and you were sure you were going to cough your lungs out at this point,,

seungcheol was going into his apartment,, lost in his thoughts,, until like he was interrupted by this loud and incessant coughing

but instead of thinking that you were like having a flu or something,,

HE THOUGHT YOU WERE CHOKING

in panic, seungcheol dropped all his stuff off at the door

and obviously, he wasn't going to knock

so yep

HE RAN AT YOUR DOOR AT FULL SPEED

AND KNOCKED IT DOWN

yes, your door was literally on the ground

only to find you, wrapped in five blankets, tissues scattered all around, a red nose

and you were like uh hello??

and seungcheol waS SHOCKED because he thought you were choking??

“um hi?”

“IM SORRY I THOUGHT YOU WERE CHOKING AND YOU WERE GOING TO DIE SO I BROKE YOUR DOOR TO SAVE YOU,,,,, OH MY GOD IM GOING TO REPLACE THE DOOR–” he rambled on and on about how he was going to replace your door and how he was a bad neighbor etc

“seungcheol, it's okay,” you smiled. “at least–I know now if I was ever going to choke, you'd break the door down,” you teased.

“oh god,,,, this is so embarrassing, I'm so sorry– I will get you a new door.”

“seungcheol, i told you, it's fine.” you reminded him,, he was literally beet red at this point. he had never been this embarrassed in his life and he was friends with hoshi.

“no I broke down my neighbor's door and it's so unsafe at night and you're already sick,,,” seungcheol started hyperventilating “i am so sorry–”

and before he started rambling again u were like SEUNGCHEOL I WILL DECK YOU IN THE FACE IF YOU SAY SORRY ONE MORE TIME

and he was like (((;ꏿ_ꏿ;)))

“but it's just–ugh–I'm so fucking stupid,” seungcheol groaned.

“you did the right thing,, please don't feel bad,” you comforted. “it happens.”

“i'm so sorry,,,,, I'll just drop my stuff in and spend the night here if that's okay?” he asked. “its not safe with your door down and all, and we can't leave the apartment unattended, plus you're sick.”

“dont worry about it,,,,”

“i broke your door down pls this is the least I can do”

“okay then”

and then, seungcheol your handsome and FREAKISHLY STRONG neighbor came in his soft pajamas with his hair all fluffy and his lil smile

GOD PLS HES SUCH A BABY

basically seungcheol looked so cute that your heart was going BOOM BOOM SHAKE THE ROOM

“here,, I got you some medicine.”

“thanks– um,,,, do you want to watch something?” you asked, as he sat down beside you.

“i'm fine with anything. I also talked to the landlord and he said the carpenter will be there in two or three days,” he informed. “so I'll spend the night here, to make sure no one does some weird shit.”

“thank you so much seungcheol,, you really didn't have to go through all the trouble”

“uh,,, I broke your door– I think this is the least I can do,” he replied and you chuckled.

so the two of you just watched tv, all the while talking about random things during the day

and slowly you started falling asleep on the couch right beside seungcheol and seungcheol just looked at you he was like wow

like literally ,,,, seungcheol had his eyes on you for the longest time but he didn't do anything about it and now, you were beside him looking all cute and snuggly

and he brought over a spare mattress from his place and slept on it because you were sleeping on the couch and yes, you're damn right, he's a gentleman

he even woke up earlier to make you breakfast

you woke up and you were feeling a lot better and you saw cheol making you brekkie

“seungcheol,,, why are you making breakfast?” you asked him

“you need the energy,” he answered.

“what about your work?”

“oh well, our boss gave us an off for the weekend,” he answered. “it is okay, right?”

“i'm okay with it,,,,” you smiled sheepishly

the next two days,, seungcheol slept on the couch while you slept in your room

he even made you breakfast and took care of you, made you laugh like

the only thing you were thinking about was how much this guy was boyfriend material and like WOW SIMP!

and seungcheol was just having the time of his life because he's with you

once the door was fixed, cheol was sad because he thought he had lost his chance, given that he did break your door down

“of course cheol,,, we'll be friends,” you comforted him.

“I was kinda thinking if we could be more than that,” seungcheol smiled sheepishly, his dimples showing as he blushed.

and you were like omg HES SO CUTE

“of course we could be more than that,” you got on your tippy toes and pressed a small kiss to his cheek

“hmm, maybe I should break your door down more often,” he teased.

“why break it when you can have the key?” you teased, leaving seungcheol's heart beating faster,,, than before.

#seventeen imagines #seventeen headcanons #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fluff #seventeen x y/n #seventeen x reader #seventeen x you #choi seungcheol imagines #seungcheol imagines #s.coups imagines #s.coups x reader #s.coups #choi seungcheol scenarios #seventeen choi seungcheol #choi seungcheol x reader #choi seungcheol #seventeen scoups #scoups

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gerbithats · 4 years

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A long sims 4 rant

Starting this I can already predict it’s gonna be a big one so if you stick with me, thank you and I’ll try and add pictures to make things feel easier 😆

I was thinking about it and I mean really thinking about these community surveys we’ve been getting and how they speak volumes on the way the game is handled but also also how we position ourselves as a community. I noticed alot more game changers are starting to get pretty vocal about their thoughts since the first community survey came out and that’s refreshing to say the least, but it shows a pattern that we all present: give us what is missing no matter how. We want beaches. We want cars. We want more stairs. We want bunkbeds. Etc.

So these things are probably somehow rushed into production to please the community and then, when we finally get it, it’s like we finally realize that what this game truly lacks is gameplay and not more items.

I invite you to come and think about the packs and the stuff we got throughout these 6 years with me.

🏢 Chapter 1: The apartment issue

Yes we got apartment buildings with city living, but sometimes it doesn’t even feel like it’s a game feature because it’s L I T E R A L L Y related to living in a city, so it’s not a real feature. We have no possible way to play with apartments and condos outside of san myshuno because for the first time ever we can’t build or own apartments. This was such a missed opportunity of giving us new lot treatments like condos and even rentable properties. I mean, just think about how those 2 features could allow so much new gameplay and stories with it (I can literally imagine being a landlord, having to go fix renters stuff in my their places and doing social events as condo meetings).

The neighbors in that type of lot could also help solve somehow what so many people mention as “boring lot gameplay”. Let’s be real. hardly something ever happens with so little npcs and only the walk by sims (You have to literally run after them to make things happen sometimes and it shouldn’t be like that). But if sims were to live in the same condo or building as yours, sharing common living spaces that’s a whole other thing. Which brings me to the fact that even in the city, where apartments exist, there’s no common area other than the halls. Imagine if we could build laundries, rooftops, basements, patios with pools and all that sort of stuff.

That sort of detaling and really getting deep into the pack’s features is even show in elevators: we can’t use them ourselves (for building) and they’re not even animated, your sim is just teleported (even the modded ones have animations and that’s just awkward).

🌊 Chapter 2: Swimming in shallow waters

“We want a beach”, we said. So they gave us a beach, and a beach only. I’ve never seen so many people call a pack “shallow” as I’ve seen it happen to Island Living and tbh I do agree with them ‘cause... there’s really not much to do in this pack. For the first time ever swimming was restricted to this pack which is already a big let down by itself, but then features like deep diving were added for no reason and of course, as a rabbit whole, not actually contributing with much to do. So how could it be better?

My answer is pretty obvious: resorts. It is a livable world, but that don’t mean your sims can’t take a vacation from work and just stay there if that’s the gameplay you want to go with and resorts match perfectly with that, not to mention it would have great integration with packs like spa day. It also means a new lot type and lot system, that wouldn’t be much new if the city living building condos and sublocating them as I mentioned would’ve already been implemented, but now with the feature of renting it yourself too. Resorts could also have their own event schedules, integrated with the seasons calendar: cava parties every wednesday, yoga lessons on thursdays, etc. And the best thing would be: if you own one, you can make your own events and traditions. imagine just how fun that would be. A feature like this would also mean it’s already done for other packs coming later on, maybe a colder destination where you can ski and build iglus or even another cultural based pack like jungle adventure.

Other obvious resolution would be better mermaids. Make it harder to become one, being only able to get the kelp from a mermaid themselves. Make it less anticlimactic, having an animation of them turning before they just walk in water with a tail all of the sudden, maybe just some scales in their legs. Give them more unique features and powers like vampires and spellcasters have, such as easily persuading people (sort of like the mind control feature aliens have) and maybe even a secret lot, like a grotto where all the mermaids are. Give them curses with the points system to go with it, some mermaids are actually sirens amirite

🥶 Chapter 3: Seasons change, gameplay stays the same

Activities truly based on the season that are specific to that moment create urgency and different moments. Something I can think of is integrating a pack we already have: spooky stuff. It does feel lackluster ‘cause it’s missing opportunities, but imagine going trick or treating but actually going, loading different houses and gathering it while a meter like the active jobs one guided you. Forming groups with friends to do it or maybe for tpeing trees and bushes if you’re on the rebel teen side and destroying their porch jack’o lanterns. It could even be randomly generated, like the game would send you to 3 different houses to do it (that would bring lots of replayability value ‘cause you could end up in houses with neighbors that love you and will give you candy no problem, but maybe also neighbors with family feuds that won’t answer their door or make it harder for you to accomplish the event objectives), maybe one of those could even be a abandoned one that’s haunted or something like that.

The implementing of a better wants and fears system is very essential for this pack. Yes your sims get overheated and a popup message tells you they need some water or lighter clothes, but it’d be so good if they’d actually want to go to the beach, swim in the ocean, take a vacation from work and go to a resort. Heatwaves that would make your sim act weird, not strangerville level of weird, but maybe not obeying your commands.

Blizzards so strong that work and school would get canceled and you actually don’t have the option to leave your home lot anymore until it passes would not only add a different element to the gameplay, but also add value to the weather controler machine.

🥺 Final chapter: The general “more stuff to do” and “more things happening” factor

The game offers all these beautiful secret worlds and yet when you finally get to them there’s not much to do other than searching for rocks and frogs and doing some fishing. I miss going to a community lot hidden somewhere and finding an eremite, goddamn bigfoot, some crazy npc or even just an actual community lot with something to do and people doing stuff in it. Unique community lots would also be a way to make towns more lively and captivating like they did so well with realm of magic and the casters alley section of the world. Maybe forgotten hollow has this abandoned haunted house where people claim they’ve seen the grim reaper walking around. Maybe sixam has a alien station where they clone human sims. Maybe sulani has this beautiful sunken ship beach where a club of people that dress up as pirated meet. Maybe Del Sol Valley has a movie theater where you can watch premieres. Maybe Oasis Springs mine hides actual gold that you can collect and get rich outta nowhere. That kind of stuff.

I can’t stress this enough, but NPCs are so important to shake things up. It was so good to have a pack like realm of magic where the we would have to go to the three sages in order to progress. Having unique sims like this or npcs that change the way your story is going like burglars, firefighters, cops, social bunny, bonehilda and even a fortune teller is so important to keep things impredictable and interesting.

Age groups really need more specific restricted gameplay for better feel of progression. Many people say sims 4 is a young adult simulator and well... there’s not much to show that differs from that. Toddlers are as interesting as hamsters, locked in an object waiting for you to feed, clean and give them attention. Teens really should feel more like a transiction period, and the wants and fears system would really help out with that. I miss being able to participate in more elements that would mark a sims life even if they’re cheesy as heck, like having a prom, graduating, having a midlife crises.

In conclusion

First of all: if you got to this point thank you and I’d really wanna know what you think about all of this.

Some people may find even ridiculous for someone to go about a rant this big on a game and to that I have to say I agree lol I can’t help it tho, honestly, the sims has always been the game I’m most passionate about and it helped me express myself and my creativity so much since I was a kid. I really do care about this game and this franchise.

The point I want to make with this is: perhaps we shouldn’t ask for more and more different stuff, but actually put some effort into showing things we already like in the game and how they can be improved to make it more interesting. At the end of the day I still want spiral staircases, ladders, paintable ceiling, werewolves and all that but does it really matter if they get added to the game following the same patterns as the things pointed in here? Also we really are getting to a point where only a few things are missing as far as cas/build/buy go and I believe it’s time for us, as a community, to give gameplay as much importance as all these things we wanted so bad that got implemented. I probaby forgot to say something here and I didn’t even mention the infamous hamster pack, but anyway, I hope the point got across.

I try really hard to believe that the gurus are here for us and that most of all we, as a community, have a very strong voice, all we need to do is make it clearer and stronger about the things we really wish for this game.

#i'm never doing rants again #honestly this is my last one #from now one i'll only express my thoughts through memes and reblogs #ressurrection spell was a missed opportunity for zombies to be back in realm of magic btw #i don't even know how to tag this #the sims #the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4

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heartofether · 3 years

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Episode 13 - Dog with a Bone TRANSCRIPT

[You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, or go to our “Listen” page if you’re on desktop.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

[INCREASINGLY SLOWLY] Please state your message.

[THEME SONG PLAYS.]

VAL

Three-eyed Frog Presents: The Heart of Ether.

[THEME SONG FADES TO A STOP.]

[PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. AGENTS MAY AND JUNES’ COMPANY VEHICLE, DRIVING INTO DAUGHTLER, WASHINGTON, MIDDAY.]

[THE TWO ARE HEARD DRIVING THROUGH THE TOWN.]

AGENT MAY

This is the audio log of Operation Saturn, phase 1.2. Investigation taking place in Daughtler, Washington, 2019. Set to last for two months minimum. This is day one. Conducted by Agents May and June. All recordings are legal property of the Harper Foundation. Any unauthorized access to these recordings will result in—

AGENT JUNE

[OVERLAPPING] Does Daughtler know no God? That church is crumbling like a communion wafer!

AGENT MAY

Agent June.

AGENT JUNE

I’m just saying! You’d think for a place of worship, they’d take better care of it. Basic maintenance, maybe a new paint job.

AGENT MAY

Well, I guess the people of Daughtler aren’t particularly religious.

AGENT JUNE

Oh, not that I care. I’m an atheist. Raised in a Catholic household, which went about as well as—

AGENT MAY

Look, in the future, could you please avoid speaking over me when we’re recording important information?

AGENT JUNE

What important information? We just got here.

AGENT MAY

Well, if we’re going to be constantly on the record, I would like to maintain some level of professionalism.

AGENT JUNE

Ahh. Hate to break it to you, bud, but if you expect me to shut up for this whole mission, I think you will be greatly disappointed. I am, you see, constantly burdened by great ideas—trust me, it’s exhausting.

AGENT MAY

[SARCASTIC] I’m sure it is.

AGENT JUNE

[AFTER A BRIEF PAUSE, HE SNORTS A LAUGH.] DVD rentals? Dude, who’s renting DVDs in the digital era of pirating—I mean, uh, legally buying and streaming everything online?

AGENT MAY

[DEADPAN] Nice catch.

AGENT JUNE

Anyways, where are we heading first? I’m guessing the motel?

AGENT MAY

Actually, we’re going to make a quick detour. Stop somewhere for a quick interview.

AGENT JUNE

[HE GROANS.] Seriously, dude? We have so much time to do that kind of stuff. Can’t we just, you know, relax for our first day? Settle into Weird Town, USA?

AGENT MAY

I’d like to start this mission off on a good foot. It would be valuable to meet some of the residents, see what they’re like. Besides, this particular individual is important enough that by establishing a relationship early on, it may be beneficial in the long run.

AGENT JUNE

Ugh, fine. Who is our person of the hour, then?

AGENT MAY

Actually, it’s less about the person and more about where they’re living.

[A BEAT.]

AGENT JUNE

Yeah, dude. Obviously. They’re living in Daughtler, Washington. You know, the place we’re investigating?

AGENT MAY

[OVERLAPPING] I mean their house.

Agent June, please, please tell me you know who Bernard Kelly Valencia is.

AGENT JUNE

Obviously, dude! That’s like asking a chemistry student if they know what an electron is. [THEN, UNDER HIS BREATH] Actually, I failed chemistry, so maybe that isn’t the best analogy.

But yeah. Bernard Kelly Valencia. Super weird dude that the entire town was kinda freaked by. Supposedly was well-known among the Ether community for his vast range of research conducted with Dorothy Wood. Nobody actually knows where all that work went after he and Dorothy died, though.

AGENT MAY

Actually, it’s possible some of it was left behind in his own house.

AGENT JUNE

Wait, seriously? Didn’t all of his belongings go to his son afterwards?

AGENT MAY

According to the original house plans, there’s an attic. His son, after leaving the house once and for all, never mentioned there being anything in the attic. This could mean it was just empty, but that fact would have to have been noted at some point. His son was thorough in his complaints about clearing his father’s house, from what we could find. It’s possible nobody ever even bothered to look up there.

AGENT JUNE

So you think he had something in his attic that just never got found?

AGENT MAY

That’s what the Foundation believes.

AGENT JUNE

Alrighty, then. That’s not too bad. We just break into a dead guy’s house and pillage through his attic. I mean, how hard can that be?

AGENT MAY

It’s not that simple. There’s a new tenant living there.

AGENT JUNE

Ahh, I see. Do you think they know?

AGENT MAY

Perhaps. There was a recent missing person report linked to the house—an inspector who the landlord sent out to investigate a supposed mold problem.

AGENT JUNE

Classic.

AGENT MAY

Which leads us to believe that the new tenant is at least familiar with Ether—assuming the mold problem was of supernatural origin, which is probable due to the house’s location and the report filed by the landlord describing the mold: yellow, with an odd scent.

AGENT JUNE

So, what’s our plan? Are we just going to go and ask to search the house?

AGENT MAY

Unfortunately, the Foundation couldn’t acquire a formal search warrant. We’ll have to convince the new tenant to let us in of their own free will.

AGENT JUNE

Who is this person, anyways?

AGENT MAY

Her name is Irene Gray. She’s twenty-one years old. Works as forestry aid.

AGENT JUNE

Do we know anything else about her?

AGENT MAY

Let’s just say the mold inspector isn’t the only missing persons case she’s connected to. Four years ago, an 18-year-old girl named Rosemary Quinn went missing. Officials think it’s likely she ran away. Irene Gray was Rosemary’s girlfriend. The police’s interview with Irene states that the two of them had planned on running away together not long after the date Rosemary had gone missing.

AGENT JUNE

Way to rat your girlfriend out like that.

AGENT MAY

She could have been desperate for any sort of lead, even if that meant getting herself and Rosemary in trouble. And she did get in trouble, I believe, though not with the law, per say. Irene couldn’t have known where Rosemary had gone, though. She was so emotionally devastated after the event, there was little chance she was faking it or lying to cover for Rosemary. She actually started therapy not long after.

AGENT JUNE

So, why does it matter? Did they ever find Rosemary?

AGENT MAY

Unfortunately, no. The official record states that the last place she was potentially seen was a local animal shelter, where she dropped off her cat, whose name she said was Sage. This, however, does not sync up with reports from her family claiming the cat’s name was Sir Griffin the Third, which led to some uncertainty. They had a difficult time tracking her after that, though. All they had to go off of was one potential gas station siting, but all that resulted in was another dead end.

AGENT JUNE

Uh, you still haven’t explained why any of this matters.

AGENT MAY

[FRUSTRATED] Could you just be patient for one— [HE HUFFS A SIGH.]

Look, it’s important because it’s unlikely Irene Gray will let us explore her house if we just ask nicely.

AGENT JUNE

So, we have to use bait?

AGENT MAY

It could be a mutually beneficial relationship, is what I’m saying. We both have something the other wants.

AGENT JUNE

Wait, does the Foundation, like, know what happened to that girl?

AGENT MAY

Not quite, but, potentially. I’ll show you what we have once we stop the car.

AGENT JUNE

Great! This should be interesting.

AGENT MAY

[UNDER HIS BREATH] I’m sure it will be.

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[INT. IRENE GRAY’S HOUSE, MIDDAY.]

[IRENE IS ON A PHONE CALL WITH ADEN. ON HIS END OF THE LINE, THERE IS THE LOOPING SOUND OF A BROKEN FAX MACHINE ATTEMPTING, BUT FAILING, TO PROCESS PAPER.]

IRENE

It’s a fax machine. How do you not know how to use a fax machine? I’ve literally watched you do it before.

ADEN

Well, I thought I knew! And I mean, come on, how come you get to judge me when you can’t even use your phone properly?

IRENE

Oh, my god—Aden, it’s my day off. Can’t you just look it up?

ADEN

I don’t know how to describe the problem in a way a search engine will understand. It’s too—you know—specific.

IRENE

Ask someone there, then. Carol and Julia probably know better than I do.

ADEN

Julia’s sick, and Carol’s on some important phone call. Look, I just—if we have to replace this thing and it’s my fault, I’m going to freak out—

IRENE

Okay, wait until Carol gets off the phone and then—

ADEN

[WORRIED] What if it sets on fire or something?

IRENE

[FRUSTRATED] It won’t! It’s probably just jammed.

ADEN

But what if it does?

IRENE

[SNAPPING] Jeez, dude, just go find the manual! Why are you calling me?

ADEN

[PANICKED, STUTTERING] Because I’m panicking, alright? Look, ever, ever since the mold incident, I’ve been so scared constantly of everything. Every tiny thing that happens feels like it’s the end of the world, especially because that dude’s van went missing and it’s like you guys are just constantly waiting for the police to just show up at your door—

IRENE

[HER TONE SOFTENS, GROWING SYMPATHETIC] Oh, Aden—

ADEN

[CONT.] —and you and Carol almost died, and I did nothing. Okay? I sat in my office and talked to the knitted cat on my desk while I had a panic attack and did nothing.

I just want to find some way to, to do good, to fix something, but instead I think I ruined the fax machine and now I’m just failing you and Carol, again.

IRENE

[CHOOSING HER WORDS CAREFULLY] Hey. Look, I—I’m sorry I snapped. It’s not…it’s not that big of a deal.

ADEN

[COMING DOWN, GUILTILY] No, no, you’re right. I shouldn’t have called you on your day off.

IRENE

It’s fine. Seriously, don’t worry about it. Do you need me to go down there and look at it?

ADEN

No, don’t. I’m kinda starting to calm down, and I think if I can’t find the manual, I’ll just wait until Carol gets off the phone.

IRENE

That’s a good idea.

[A BEAT.] Um, if you need a distraction or anything, we can still talk for a bit. I know how anxiety can be.

ADEN

[SINCERE] That means a lot, Irene. Thank you.

IRENE

Of course.

Is there anything in particular you want to talk about?

ADEN

[A BEAT, THEN, HESITANT] I actually have a question. I’ve been thinking about it for a bit, but if it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer.

IRENE

I mean, I think you’ve already seen me at some pretty low points, so…

ADEN

[HE CHUCKLES.] Alright.

[CAREFULLY] You said you had a girlfriend who went missing.

IRENE

[A BEAT.] Yup.

ADEN

What was her name?

IRENE

[A HESITANT BEAT.] Rose. Er, you may have seen the name Rosemary Quinn at some point, but it was years ago.

ADEN

Yeah, I don’t remember. Sorry.

IRENE

It’s fine.

ADEN

What happened to her?

[THERE’S A PAUSE.]

IRENE

[GRIM] We never found out.

For a long time, I’ve thought that she just decided she was sick of her life as it was. Ran away to start a new one without telling anyone where she went. It would have made sense—she had planned on doing it for a while. Even took cash from her savings out in chunks so nobody would be able to track her card when she did. Her mother simply wrote this off as poorly thought-out impulse purchases.

We had planned our entire future together, though, and for her to just throw it out didn’t make sense, it—well… [SHE TRAILS OFF.]

ADEN

I’m sorry.

IRENE

I thought it was her mom at first, though. Grace Quinn. [SHE SAYS THE NAME WITH VENOM.]

They investigated Grace for domestic abuse. Believed Rose ran away to escape a dangerous situation. Upon Rose not answering her bedroom door, Grace, well…broke it down. Rose had locked it before she went out the window, and her mother just—decimated the doorknob to get in. At least, that’s what the police report says.

ADEN

Jeez.

IRENE

Without the child there, however, it was difficult to prove any abuse. I had some texts. Her aunts had a couple of anecdotes. That was all, though. Grace refused to admit to anything, of course.

ADEN

[HESITANT] Was there? Um, was there abuse?

IRENE

[A BEAT.] Yeah.

ADEN

I’m so sorry.

IRENE

It was rarely ever physical, but it definitely happened.

ADEN

I mean, if Rose was trying to escape something, I hope she was safe in the end.

IRENE

[PAUSE, THEN, SOFTLY, ALMOST SAD] I do, too.

[A BEAT.] That wasn’t all, though. Grace acted really strange afterwards. When police asked what had happened the night before, she said she couldn’t remember. Seriously, she didn’t have any concrete details. She said she had just woken up that morning and Rose was gone, but her story kept changing in little ways. It was disorienting.

She seemed…paranoid. Jumpy. Confused, even. Angry, but her anger wasn’t directed anywhere. I might have felt bad for her if just the thought of her hadn’t made my blood boil. I mean, I imagine your daughter going missing has gotta have some sort of effect on you, even if you’re not on good terms with her.

Grace wasn’t entirely there, though. Looking back, it’s a lot more clear. I…know some things, I didn’t know back then. I just, I wonder what was really wrong with her. I haven’t talked to her in years. Certainly not about to start now.

ADEN

I mean, I kinda sympathize with her, but also, she doesn’t sound like a great person.

IRENE

Oh no, she’s horrible. I know I should feel some remorse for all the awful things I’ve said about her, but I don’t. Not really.

When Rose first went missing, I became blinded by rage. I screamed at Grace when I saw her. Cursed in her face. Said it was all her fault, because I was—well, I was scared, and I had no other explanation. My dad had to drag me away before I attacked her.

ADEN

Jeez, Irene.

IRENE

I’m obviously better about my anger management now. Therapy at least did that for me.

ADEN

I mean, I get it. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you.

IRENE

Yeah. Um, yeah. [IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE’S SOMETHING ELSE SHE WANTS TO SAY.]

Thanks, Aden.

ADEN

Of course. If you…I mean, I know it’s been a while, but you can always talk to me about it. I’ve said that before, but, y’know.

IRENE

I appreciate it.

[A PAUSE.]

ADEN

I think Carol’s call ended.

IRENE

[TEASING] And did the fax machine catch on fire?

ADEN

[HE LAUGHS.] No. No, it did not.

[IRENE LAUGHS. ANOTHER PAUSE.]

IRENE

[MORE SERIOUS] Aden?

ADEN

Yeah?

IRENE

I’m…I’m working on something. It’s a personal project.

ADEN

[CAUGHT OFF GUARD] Oh. Okay.

IRENE

I don’t think I can tell you what it’s about, but…just so you know. I mean, I trust you, so.

ADEN

That’s—um, that’s fine. Uh, let me know if I can help at all?

IRENE

Sure. I’ll talk to you later.

[AS THEY SPEAK, THERE’S APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS ON ADEN’S END OF THE LINE.]

ADEN

You, too. Thank you again for talking.

IRENE

Not a problem. Bye.

ADEN

Talk to you soon!

CAROL

[IN THE DISTANCE] What did you do to the damn—?

[PHONE BEEP AS ADEN HANGS UP. IRENE SIGHS.]

IRENE

[CONFUSED] Oh, uh. Didn’t realize my phone was recording. [MUTTERS] When did that start? Guess I turned it on at some point.

[A BEAT.] Well, Rose. I’m talking to you now. Not just some figment of you in my head, but, you.

I know you’re going to hear these. I don’t know when, but you will. Of course you will.

[A BEAT.] Only problem is, I’m kind of at a dead end. My only lead so far is a mysterious recording that popped up on my laptop with no explanation. I have no idea how any of those files got there. Do I just have to wait until whatever weird force that gives them to me decides to throw one my way?

It’s like gambling at that point. I don’t know when I’ll get something or if what I find will be helpful or not. I mean, hell, I could get a new file on my computer and it’ll just be some voicemail I sent you sophomore year about baking brownies. Who knows what I’ll find or when I’ll find it?

I have to figure out something more reliable. Maybe figure out where the recordings are coming from, and if I can use whatever it is to my advantage. Or, I don’t know, Phoebe is coming over at some point to look in my attic. Maybe I should just—

[THERE’S A KNOCK AT THE FRONT DOOR.]

IRENE

…huh. Wasn’t expecting anyone.

[IRENE IS HEARD GETTING UP AND WALKING TOWARDS THE DOOR. AS SHE APPROACHES, THE AGENT'S MUFFLED ARGUING IS HEARD, GROWING LOUDER AS SHE GROWS NEAR.]

AGENT JUNE

[MUFFLED] I'm just saying, it could be pretty cool, you know? I'm all like, "Ooh, ahh, no, tell us what we wanna know, and you're like—"

AGENT MAY

[MUFFLED, OVERLAPPING ] June, you're too impressionable by all of these movies that you watch.

[IRENE OPENS THE DOOR, BUT THEY CONTINUE AS IF SHE ISN'T THERE.]

AGENT JUNE

[CONT.] No, no, listen. It could be great, it could be great! We could like, stand back to back, and like, ooh, finger guns—

AGENT MAY

No, I'm not doing finger guns!

IRENE

[OVERLAPPING] Um, can I help you?

AGENT JUNE

[TO AGENT MAY] Okay, but just try it—

AGENT MAY

[HARSHLY CUTTING HIM OFF.] Yes, actually. Is this the residence of Irene Gray?

IRENE

[SKEPTICAL] Who’s asking?

[AGENT MAY IS HEARD FLASHING HIS BADGE.]

AGENT MAY

We’re Agents May and June of The Harper Foundation. We’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.

IRENE

The hell is that?

AGENT JUNE

Ah, see, that’s the point: you’re not supposed to know. [A BEAT.] I mean, well, we do leave kind of cryptic ads in the local paper sometimes, but, still.

AGENT MAY

[UNDER HIS BREATH] Agent June.

AGENT JUNE

What? I don’t choose to put those weird ads there!

IRENE

[UNIMPRESSED] …so, what, you’re secret agents?

AGENT MAY

If you’d like to call us that. May we come in?

IRENE

Why?

AGENT MAY

We just need to ask you about a few things. I promise it won’t be long.

IRENE

…are you going to, what, search my house?

AGENT JUNE

You got something to hide?

IRENE

[DEFENSIVE] No! I’m sorry that I value my privacy.

AGENT MAY

We’re not searching your house right now. This will be much easier for all of us if you comply, Ms. Gray.

IRENE

[SHE THINKS FOR A MOMENT, THEN, DISGRUNTLED] Fine.

AGENT MAY

Thank you.

[IRENE IS HEARD LEADING THE AGENTS INTO HER HOUSE, CLOSING THE DOOR BEHIND THEM. THEIR FOOTSTEPS ARE HEARD AS THEY ENTER.]

AGENT JUNE

It’s a nice place you got here. Oh, wow, did you paint that yourself?

IRENE

It was a gift.

AGENT JUNE

Ah, gotcha, gotcha.

[THERE’S A PAUSE AS THEY STOP WALKING.]

IRENE

Well? Take a seat. Be my guest.

[AGENTS MAY AND JUNE ARE HEARD SITTING AT THE TABLE. THERE ARE TWO LOUD THUNKING NOISES, AS IF SOMEONE IS HITTING THE TABLE.]

AGENT MAY

Agent June, take your feet off the table.

AGENT JUNE

Sorry, sorry.

[SHUFFLING NOISES AS AGENT JUNE MOVES HIS FEET.]

IRENE

Can I get you both anything to drink?

AGENT JUNE

There are your manners!

AGENT MAY

[UNDER HIS BREATH] You’re one to talk.

AGENT JUNE

Whatcha got?

IRENE

Um, water? I could make coffee? I also have lemonade in the fridge, but that’s for emergencies.

[A PAUSE.]

AGENT JUNE

I think I’m in the mood for an emergency lemonade. You, Agent May?

AGENT MAY

I’m fine, thanks.

[AS THEY CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION, IRENE IS HEARD GRABBING THE LEMONADE OUT OF THE FRIDGE, TAKING A GLASS FROM THE CUPBOARD, AND POURING JUNE'S DRINK.]

AGENT MAY

How long have you lived here, Ms. Gray?

IRENE

Not long. I moved here for work.

AGENT MAY

And what do you do?

IRENE

[HASTILY] I’m an engineer.

AGENT JUNE

Mm! Enjoying the area so far?

IRENE

It’s nice. The people are friendly.

[SHE SETS AGENT JUNE’S LEMONADE DOWN ON THE TABLE.]

AGENT JUNE

Much obliged.

[HE TAKES A DRINK LOUDLY. IRENE SITS DOWN ACROSS FROM THE TWO OF THEM.]

IRENE

…well? You said you had questions.

AGENT MAY

We’re here to ask you about a missing person.

[A TENSE PAUSE.]

IRENE

Which one?

AGENT MAY

Which one are you thinking of?

IRENE

[SHE PAUSES.] Are you talking about Rosemary Quinn?

AGENT MAY

[A TENTATIVE PAUSE.] You and Rosemary were close, correct?

IRENE

Why do you care?

AGENT MAY

I’m asking a question. An answer would be nice.

IRENE

[HESITANT] I knew Rose, yeah.

AGENT MAY

When was the last time you saw her?

IRENE

Um, it was two days before her disappearance, I believe?

Look, this should all be on her file. I don’t see the need to recount this all to you unless they’ve opened the case again. Hell, you’re not even cops, are you?

AGENT JUNE

Oh, don’t be that way, Irene. I know this case isn’t as recent as the other one you’re involved with, but you should be able to remember, right?

IRENE

The—

[THERE'S A LOW, EERIE INSTRUMENTAL AS IRENE'S BLOOD RUNS COLD.]

IRENE

[BLUFFING] What other case?

[AGENT MAY SLIDES A PIECE OF PAPER ACROSS THE TABLE.]

AGENT MAY

You were the last person to see this man, correct?

IRENE

I, um, I don’t know him, no.

AGENT JUNE

You’re not as good at lying as you think you are, you know.

[HE'S HEARD FLIPPING OVER A PIECE OF PAPER TO EXAMINE IT.]

AGENT JUNE

[CONT.] I mean, why lie to us about your job, anyways? There’s no shame in being a forestry aid. I’m sure it’s a lovely profession.

IRENE

Who the hell are you people?

AGENT MAY

Relax, Irene. The Harper Foundation has already taken care of his vehicle and rerouted the case so it doesn’t trace back to you. Investigators will come up with a dead-end soon enough, and nobody will know what you did.

AGENT JUNE

You’re welcome for that.

IRENE

I— [THEN, GUILTILY] I didn’t kill him.

AGENT MAY

I’m sure you didn’t. That’s not important right now. We’re just trying to give you a nudge in the right direction so maybe then you’ll be inclined to tell us the truth.

IRENE

Why? What do you want from me?

AGENT MAY

If you’d give me a moment to speak, then I can explain.

[IRENE HUFFS A SIGH, BUT LETS AGENT MAY SPEAK. HE FLIPS OPEN A FOLDER.]

AGENT MAY

Are you aware of this house’s previous tenant?

IRENE

You mean Bernard Kelly Valencia? His reputation precedes him, but I never knew the guy.

AGENT MAY

That’s correct. We believe he left something behind after he died, however. Something that could be incredibly beneficial for the Foundation. Have you found anything like that?

[IRENE STAYS SILENT.]

AGENT JUNE

[WHISPERS TO AGENT MAY] I think she’s trying to plead the fifth.

AGENT MAY

We expected such stubbornness. We’re not asking you for this for free, you know. We believe we may also have something that would be beneficial for you.

IRENE

And, what is that, exactly?

AGENT MAY

I’m glad you asked.

[HE'S HEARD HANDING A PAPER TO IRENE. MYSTERIOUS MUSIC BEGINS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND.]

AGENT MAY

Sometime in July, the same year Rosemary Quinn disappeared, a dusty yellow bicycle was found in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. It appeared to have had a broken piece in the front where a basket was supposed to be attached. It was never brought to the police, so unfortunately, it could never be examined as possible evidence.

AGENT JUNE

Hiker who found it posted about it on Twitter, though. The guy didn’t have many followers, so it never got traction.

AGENT MAY

This photo was taken not too far from Bent. If this is Rosemary’s bicycle, it could mean that we have a possible travel path for her after her disappearance.

[A TENSE PAUSE.]

AGENT JUNE

Oh, that was quite the shift in your expression, Irene. Have we struck a nerve? [MELODRAMATIC] I guess young love tends to leave such sore, open wounds, doesn’t it?

AGENT MAY

If you let us look at whatever it is Mr. Valencia left behind, we can help you find Rosemary Quinn. It may take some time, but we believe we can determine what happened to her. We just need your help.

[THE MUSIC STOPS. THERE'S A LONG PAUSE.]

IRENE

Get out.

[SHE'S HEARD GETTING OUT OF HER CHAIR.]

AGENT JUNE

Wh—hey!

IRENE

[GROWING MORE UPSET] Get out, I said. Get out!

[AS SHE SPEAKS, SHE'S HEARD PHYSICALLY GRABBING THE AGENTS AND PUSHING THEM OUT OF HER HOUSE. WHILE SHE'S AT IT, SHE GRABS THEIR FOLDERS AS WELL, THOUGH ONE PAPER STAYS BEHIND.]

AGENT JUNE

Hey, no, stop! You can't just grab our things like that! Please.

AGENT MAY

[OVERLAPPING, STUTTERING] Hey—!

[BOTH AGENTS STUMBLE OUTSIDE. IRENE IS HEARD THROWING THEIR PAPERS OUT THE DOOR.]

AGENT JUNE

Woah!

AGENT MAY

That's confidential information, you can't keep that in your house—

[SHE CUTS HIM OFF BY SLAMMING THE DOOR. THERE'S A PAUSE AS SHE BEGINS PACING THE FLOOR.]

IRENE

Who the hell do they think they are? Do they think I’m just some sort of—some sort of tool for them to use? Do they think they can dangle Rose over my head like I’m a dog with a bone, all over some—

[SHE PICKS THE PICTURE UP OFF THE TABLE, STOPPING HER PACING]

IRENE

Some picture of a bicycle?

[THERE’S A PAUSE AS IRENE STARES AT THE PHOTO, BEGINNING TO CALM DOWN.]

IRENE

[CAUTIOUS HOPE.] Is this really your bike, Rose? Why would you tear the basket off? You loved that basket. [WANDERING INTO DAYDREAM TERRITORY] You’d put flowers I got you in it and then ride around your block. Said it made you feel like you were in a painting.

[A BEAT.] Maybe I shouldn’t have kicked them—

[THERE’S ANOTHER KNOCK AT THE DOOR. IRENE STORMS BACK OVER TO IT.]

IRENE

[YELLING] I told you to get out! I’m not some stupid—

[SHE OPENS THE DOOR, AND REALIZES IT'S NOT THE AGENTS.]

IRENE

[EMBARRASSED] …dog.

TEEN

Well, I sure hope you’re not.

IRENE

[AWKWARDLY] Um, hi. Sorry, it’s just, someone else was just over and—

TEEN

Those two dudes? Yeah, they didn’t look very happy. That one guy, the one who had his tie undone for some reason, he had to chase one of the papers down the street. It was really funny.

IRENE

You were watching?

TEEN

Well, I didn’t realize you had a line going out your door of people waiting to talk to you.

IRENE

[DEADPAN] I’m new to the famous life.

TEEN

You’ll get used to it, I’m sure.

IRENE

Well, are you here to interview me and talk about my darkest secrets?

TEEN

That would be cool, wouldn’t it?

IRENE

[DISGRUNTLED] Not after the day I’ve had.

TEEN

Well, you see, I’ve actually been dying to meet you. My mom told me about you, said she met you at the store. I don’t know if you remember her, but from what she told me, it sounds like maybe you could use a bit of help.

IRENE

Your m— [IN SHOCKED AWE] Oh my god, are you the meat lady’s kid?

AVERY

Actually, my name is Avery.

Wanna grab lunch sometime?

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

Today's quote is: "Most of the people are homesick anyway, and a little lonely, and they hide themselves in their hair and are turned into flowers."

Tove Jansson in Sculptor's Daughter, 1968.

[A PAUSE AS A HOLLOW NOISE BEGINS TO GROW IN THE BACKGROUND, FOLLOWED BY STATIC.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

[SLOWLY, AS IF STRAINED] Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can feel it—

[THE VOICE IS CUT OFF BY STATIC.]

[OUTRO MUSIC & CREDITS PLAY.]

[AN EXTENDED PIANO VERSION OF THE NIGHT POST’S OPENING THEME PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND.]

NIGHT POST PROMO

Hello there, citizen. You’ve lived in Gilt City for a while now. Maybe you’ve wondered, when you wake in the morning and retrieve the letters tucked neatly into your postbox, just where your mail comes from. It comes from the Night Post, of course. Those faithful couriers deliver it while you’re sleeping--all the better that they stay out of sight, and keep the unseemly strangeness that follows them out of our city, in the Skelter, where it belongs.

Ahem. If, for some reason, you’d like to know more about Gilt City’s conscripted couriers and the burden that chose them, their secret hopes and fears, the ancient, untamed threats that hound them on their nocturnal journeys--you have only to listen. The Night Post is a supernatural audio drama by an all-LGBT team, delivered weekly, in dead of night, to wherever you listen to podcasts.

Find answers at nightpostpod.com.

#heart of ether transcripts

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years

Text

Survey #463

“the siren sings a lonely song of all the wants & hungers / the lust of love, a brute desire”

Describe the person that you would like to be in three years. I want my mental health to be in great condition, I really want to be in much better physical shape, ideally be living with somebody in our own place, have a job I'm happy with, have an improved social life, my own license and car... Think back to when you first met your significant other (or ex). Was your first impression of them accurate? It's funny, I honestly don't remember what my first impression of Girt was. I don't even recall our first interaction. I'm sure it was most likely that he was friendly, because he is and always has been. What is your most noticeable personality trait? Probably that I'm really, really shy. What kind of natural disaster is most common where you live? Hurricanes. Which of your family members do you resemble the most? I guess one of my immediate sisters? People tend to say stuff like they can definitely tell we're related. Have you ever had an animal get into your attic? No. Who knows you better than anyone else? Hell, probably whoever reads these. When was the last time you started a “new chapter” of your life? I guess you could call dating Girt a "new chapter." I have a much, much stronger feeling of this attempt being more successful than the last now that I've been able to change my angle on how I see him. What’s the most expensive thing your car needed to get done? I don't have my own vehicle and never have. If you had a thousand dollars to spend on a pricey brand you like but can’t really afford (until now of course), which ONE brand would you choose? *shrug* Most products of highly expensive brands I find hideous anyway. Do you still talk to any of your old teachers? Yeah. One is a close family friend and actually our landlord. Does your family still use the home phone or are you all on cell phones now? We haven't had a landline is yeeeeaaarrrrsssss. Ever go to another school’s prom? No; my boyfriend went to the same school as me. Do you ever venture into the woods? What do you normally do there? No; we live in the city now. :/ When I DID live in the woods, I absolutely loved wandering around with my camera for stuff to take pics of. Does your significant other ever make you mix CDs? None ever have but omg I wish that would be adorable. How did you dress your freshman year of high school? I was one of them emo kids. Would you ever date your best friend of the opposite sex? WELP that's what I'm doing lol. Would you say you have a high sex drive or not so much? I'd call it normal? Higher sometimes, lower other times, but not to either extreme. Come with an unpopular opinion. Silent Hill: Homecoming is a great game and while there's a lot of fan service from the movie, it belongs in the series. It's actually my second (or third)-favorite installment. Most of the SH community absolutely hate that game. What’s the worst thing a friend has either done or said to you? A lot of shit Colleen would say if we got into arguments. She'd ridicule effects of my depression, said I'd never know what it's like to pay my own bills, stuff like that. She's hateful as fuck and everything cut deep. What’s fake about you? Like extensions, fake nails, botox etc. Nothing physical. If you got the chance, would you audition for a reality show? No. Have you ever gotten into a Facebook fight? More than once. What’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever experienced irl? Hm, I'm unsure. Favorite flavor of jelly bean? Probably watermelon. Do you use Tinder? If yes, have you ever met up with someone you matched? No. You do you, but if I understand Tinder correctly, it just seems... really shallow to me. Like don't you JUST see their picture to decide if you're interested or not? It just enforces the false belief that appearance really matters in love. You just poured your heart out to your crush and all he/she does is respond “k”. What do you respond/do? Well, I don't have a crush anymore; my boyfriend and I literally exchanged "I love you"s last night. That's not a crush. But for the sake of the question, I'll imagine I was single and this happened, in which case I would be both hurt and annoyed. Like, either tell me you return the feelings or not. It's not hard. What's your favorite thing to order from McDonald’s? I usually get a quarter pounder w/ cheese or a McDouble, occasionally with a small or medium fry, depending on how hungry I am. When do you feel your sexiest? Never, hunny. What's your favorite emoji? I don't really have one? It just depends on what the situation calls for. What’s your skincare routine? I don't really have one... I just use a washcloth to clean my face. Who all out of your immediate family smokes? My dad and stepmom. Do you like incense or candles better? Incense, totally. Do you respect your parents? Yeah. What’s your bf/gf’s name? It's technically Donald Jr., but since high school, I've known him as Girt, a nickname I won't explain for his privacy. Do you wear glasses? Yeah. Do you like The Beatles? I honestly don't. Except "Hey, Jude." What was the last reason you got excited? Last night. When we were saying goodbye, I was scared to, but I told Girt I loved him, and he immediately said it back confidently. My heart did like five flips. I'm still over the moon about it. Yes, we just got back together, but we've been in each other's lives as a constant since HS, and after changing my angle of how I looked at him, it's not at all platonic anymore. Do you know anyone who drinks the pickle juice from the jar? Sara does alskdjfklwejrl;er Name something crazy that’s happened recently? Uhhhh... I dunno. My life is very uneventful to have something really "crazy" happen. Can you say for a fact that you’re happy right now? I'm happy about some things, but also nervous and self-doubtful. Have you ever zip lined? No, but they look fun. I'd just be really scared of losing my grip. If you broke your computer, would you be able to fix it on your own? Ha, no. Have you ever been on a boat and got sick? No, but the one time I was at the beach and on a boat riding to an island, I was TERRIFIED I was going to get sick because of the waves. I didn't, thankfully. Did you sleep well last night? For the most part. My new mask might just be working. Do your parents try and plan your life for you? Not at all. Do you have any pictures of you kissing someone? Yes. List two things about yourself that you find embarrassing. My weight and how dark my leg hair is. Do you like to cuddle with your pet when you are sad? Yes. Do you find piercing attractive or unattractive? h o t Do you have any secret hiding spots in your room? To put money, yes. Do you like parmesan cheese on your spaghetti? Ew, no. I don't like parmesan. Does your best girl friend have any talents that you don’t? Yeah. She can animate well, for one. And sing like a fucking champ. Do you have any video game systems in your room? Which one(s)? My Nintendo DS Lite is in here. Well, and my laptop is a gaming one. What color eyes does the last person you kissed have? ... Oh WOW I've known this man for a fuckin decade and somehow I'm not sure??? But I want to say light blue? Have you ever taken a ride in a helicopter? No. Have you ever visited hot springs? No. How slowly or quickly would you say you eat? I'm aware I eat too fast, because my mom will point it out almost without fail if we eat in sight of each other. I'm not a messy eater at all, just... fast. Chewing your food and swallowing isn't a complex task. I've made active efforts to slow down, I just haven't been able to succeed. It doesn't feel normal. That and I've come to discover that when I chew food TOO much, I don't like the mushy texture of it in my mouth. What did you do the last time you were with friends? Yesterday Girt and I planned to watch shitty Netflix anime for some laughs, but we wound up starting Attack on Titan, which I am officially pretty into. What kind of cologne/perfume do you like the opposite sex to wear? I don't care if they wear any or not, so long as they know how to clean themselves and therefore not actually smell bad. If you celebrate Christmas, do you get a real tree or an artificial tree? We always use a fake one. Is there someone who means a lot to you but they don’t know that? My sisters probably don't, really... Is money important to you? Live your whole life poor and I want to see you answer "no" to this. Have you ever watched a meteor shower? No. Do you like Slim Jims? LOOOOOOOVE them. Would you rather write a mystery or love story? Love story. Are you muscular? No. Working for it. Do you have one of those removable hand-held shower heads? Yes. Originally, this house didn't, but I hated it so much that Mom bought one. How many burners does your stove have? Four. Has your car ever been broken into? Mom's hasn't.

#survey #surveys #random questions #lyrics: ''blood milk and sky'' by white zombie

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lynxalon · 3 years

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Lynx!!! I arrive with asks to help! I'm still working on responding to your ask! :D We have a lot of similarities in music taste, I think!! Sending safety vibes!!! I really hope that person doesn't bother you,, For dsmp asks, would you like to talk about bench trio and their respective love languages?

I'm safe dw, it's just an icky situation and my paranoia has Not been great lately but OwO is me

Benchtrio love languages! I was kinda obsessed when I first found out about love languages, cause for once I could explain to people how I specifically felt loved, and I could also finally understand why what I did to show love didn't make Others feel loved. So, you have the classic five love languages: Words of affirmation, gift giving/receiving, physical touch, quality time, and acts of service. There are also nontraditional ones, which are niche and very person-specific but that don't quite fit into on of the classic five. My best comparison would be a uquiz I once took where someone assigned people niche love languages like remembering a person's order. What I'm going to do it talk about the classic love languages in order of Most to Least effecting, and then assign niche love languages to them that they've either portrayed or just have the vibes of lmao

Ranboo:

- Acts of service

- Gift giving/recieving

- Quality time

- Words of affirmation

- Physical touch

Starting off! Ranboo! I'm starting with him because I've been watching his streams everyday since early Feb, so I've had time to understand his vibes and just how he interacts with people. His main seems to be acts of service, very closely following by gift giving. He's often seen doing things for others, even going as far as grinding resources to Potentially do things for others. (I say others but. We know who I'm mainly talking about lmao...) He seems less concerned with receiving, and seems content to give out. Chances are the way he Shows love isn't the way he Feels loved. Anyways, his first two tie into each other really well, which is really interesting because tbh most have One main one that they show love with and feel loved with (mine is quality time, paired with a niche love language I like to call pestering). Next is quality time and words of affirmation. The first two were definitely how he showed love, but these two seem to be how he Feels loved. From him hanging out Tubbo, and us seeing how Tubbo's fixed sleep schedule affects Ranboo, it's clear that he very much enjoys spending time with people he cares about. (And by seeing how if affects him I mean. We have heard the dude bring up Tubbo so much the last couple of days, absolutely unprompted, like he talks more about Tubbo than I think about him which kinda says something cause my current hyperfixation is my fave streamers so. Huh.) Words of affirmation is in part tied with the last, cause sometimes people compliment him or something and mans really just goes 😮😄 Which, super endearing, hearing him smiling after Tubbo compliments him (which Tubbo does in a /j way but also a /hj way which is so funny to me). Lastly is physical touch, and tbh this is at the bottom cause we can't quite gauge if he's a touchy person and I don't think he is very touchy only cause the other four really stand front and center for him lmao. The niche love language I'd assign Ranboo? Pestering. I'm not biased, I'm just right OwO The way he pestered and messed with Tubbo saying he had the best mcc win rate? Yeah, that's something I'd do.

So, halfway through I lost motivation and confidence so I'll just be putting what I think Tubbo's and Tommy's are, cause I just do not have the energy to go as in depth as I would like! Rip to me lmao 😔😂 I hope the rest is still interesting though UwU

Tubbo:

- Quality time

- Acts of service

- Gift giving/receiving

- Words of affirmation

- Physical touch

So, quick run down! Tubbo's main is quality time! Unlike Ranboo, his first two aren't too terribly close. He enjoys spending lots of time with people, and I definitely understand as my main is quality time as well. One of the main examples of this I would point out would actually be streaming! Homeboy streams A Lot, like a lot a lot, to the point where it's a common inside joke that if you leave a Tubbo stream (especially alt) and come back later, he'll still be there. One of the main reasons I want to start streaming is so I can hang out and share stuff with others, cause I think there's something suuuper cool about playing games and sharing those experiences with others. Like, I remember watching Jacksepticeye play Life Is Strange, or Guardians (personal fave). It was like watching a friend play, which I really needed at the time. It was quality time without the anxiety of Being There completely. And Tubbo loves streaming, and has said it lots of times, and I think that it's really great ^^ Now, acts of service is one I think has definitely moved Up in the order, because of Ranboo specifically. Hear me out, hut something doing something for you because they want to can actually be so Loving and Tender... And no, I'm not jealous... But, Ranboo! Ranboo likes doing things for people he cares about and I think that for Tubbo it's a way he feels loved, and knows he's cared about. Gift giving and receiving was originally in second place, but has since went down one. I think this was used to be much more prominent, and I definitely think it still holds the same weight and value as it did before, but now it's vaguely overshadowed by acts of service. Fella enjoys receiving things, but also seems to be constantly getting people things (or similarly, influencing someone to get something that he thinks they definitely should have. lol). Words of affirmation is definitely a nice surprise kinda situation. Like, being complimented or someone being proud of him is Very pog. And, I, for one, am very proud of my streamer 😄 Sometimes I really be like. Head full... Tubbo. Lmao 😂😂😂 Anyways, he doesn't necessarily seem adverse to physical touch, it just seems like it's less important that the rest. I do think that for him he'd be more physically affectionate with someone who mains that (dunno how else to put it lmao) cause he wants them to feel loved in a way that makes sense to them! Hope that all makes sense! And tbh, I lied! I'm a liar! I fr thought I wouldn't open my big mouth and just gush about this some more but man. I really proved myself wrong OwO Also, I assign Tubbo the odd niche love language of sharing videos about things he enjoys as a way of affection.

Tommy:

- Physical touch

- Words of affirmation

- Quality time

- Acts of service

- Gift giving/receiving

Tommy is very interesting! Cause, the first is a little bit ahead of the rest, but all of these are very close together in value and importance. I haven't been able to watch as much from Tommy, so all of this will be very loose. The first seems most common as a way he shows love, and I think it's also how he feels loved. My reason for this, dude just trust me 😂 Words of affirmation for my boy plz, he is so loving and I just really love him. He reminds me of that meme where the landlord's like 'I don't allow pets' and the person sends a pic of their pet and the landlord's like 'Ok I'll allow him because he looks very polite' That is literally every inniter, anyone who watches Tommy, they're like 'I'll allow him because he looks very polite'. Is he polite? Eh maybe lmao. Also mans likes spending time with friends. Understandable. Likes hanging out doing silly stuff. People help him with things sometimes and that is Nice. Gifts are also neat but he's not a very material person is he. Hmm. I assign his niche love language to be sending pics of animals. Just think it fits him lmao. He likes cows and such a little too much, people who like cows often send lots of pics of animals, I know from experience OwO

This was fun to answer, thank you for this ask Lina! 💚💚💚 I enjoy personality analysis, things like love languages, enneagram types, mbti, and astrology charts. So yeaah this stuff is super fun to think about XD Also, this isn't like Entirely factual or anything like that, just mere observation and analysis for fun ^^

#lynx speaks #answered asks #lina my beloved ^^ 💚💚💚#ranboo #tubbo #tommy #benchtrio #big oof owo #this took me a shorter amount of time to answer than most asks so i am Proud OwO #this was fun to write out ^^#long post

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vagrantblvrd · 4 years

Note

yes hello may i please ask for snippets or not!fic of Nicky and Joe

Well hello there, friend!

You have asked for things I would love to gush about for forever because these two with the owning of my heart?

(Disclaimer: I’m not sure how ~in character/canon any of this would be because I’ve not had time to read the comics yet, but anyway!)

Also, this is totally going to be rambling not!fic so I hope that’s okay?

But just imagine being neighbors with Joe and Nicky, you know?

These two nice young men who are either really good friends or really good friends *wink wink* , if you know what I mean?

I’m totally imagining them having this nice little apartment somewhere when they’re not with the team or that year they reference in the movie where apparently they weren’t hero-ing about as a team?

At least one (1) little old lady in the same building and of course they help her with the groceries and errands, fixing things around her place that break that would take the landlord forever to get to. (And probably hire someone who’d do a terrible job of it.)

Sweet young men, and you know there would be all these jokes from them about this little old lady making them feel old because she’s taking a class for whatever hip, new exercise trend is making the rounds at the time at the community center a few blocks down and they’re yet to step foot in the place themselves and so on.

She’s delighted/blushing because such sweet young men? Meanwhile Joe and Nicky are sharing this look over her head because lol, if only she knew?

And of course she laughs and swats their arm all, you rascals, as they escort her up to her apartment after running into one another in the lobby or whatever.

Joe’s carrying her groceries and Nicky’s all :D at her - not flirting, goodness no, Joe would get jealous, he swears.

But also, okay, also.

Single mom with a kid in the building (I’m going hard on my fave cliches/tropes, sorry) and they help keep an eye on the kid when they’re around and the whatnot?

Like when Single Mom and her kid moved in there’s sort of kind of a basketball court out back? But no one’s used it in years and it’s a mess. The net/chain from the net is long gone/rusted away and the paint on the court is faded and it’s more the kind of place people toss stuff too big to haul off to the dump without renting a truck and why bother with the hassle when they can set it there and just...forget to do the thing they told themselves they’d do one day?

So, yeah.

And it’s like.

There’s this day where the kid’s out back practicing ball control or whatever, and every so often you can hear the ball get away from them because wow, yeah.

The surface of the court’s a little torn up, cluttered, crowded and there’s not enough room to do much without running into junk.

This little moment where they’re watching a movie or a show or whatever and that sound over and over and this well clearly someone has to do something kind of moment between them expressed in looks and eyebrows, right?

Maybe they’ve been hero-ing on the side or whatever, small, local things because I sincerely doubt they’d just not if there wasn’t a dire reason for it, you know? (Someone actively looking for them, and even then...yes.)

Anyway, anyway.

There’s a home improvement store not too far away and they have coupons, discount vouchers, whatever from fixing up their own place.

(I really want there to be at least one (1) hidden compartment/sekrit hiding place because much weaponry, and sure, let’s put this one in America because reasons? But also seriously suspect.)

Not asking too much to use those coupons/vouchers on stuff to fix the basketball court up, repaint it and put up new net/chain if not replace the baskets completely.

Weekend project that may take longer than anticipated if the team goes out to hero or whatever, but it gets done.

Has some of their neighbors getting curious enough to see what they’re doing, and then it’s a group project.

The kid is like !!! and cautiously hopeful about things because hey, you know, it’s nice of them and all? But also why? What do they get out of it?

Little Old Lady bakes cookies and the whatnot and someone brings lunch and it’s just a lovely bonding moment for everyone in the building.

AND THEN.

When the basketball court’s back to its old glory there must be a basketball game?

Vicious game of H.O.R.S.E. at the very least, and of course Little Old Lady takes part.

There’s an unspoken agreement to take it easy on her because little old lady? But then it’s revealed she used to play professional basketball, and also Joe and Nicky are sweet and all?

But they’re sloppy players, and then scores another letter without breaking a sweat and then it’s back to the way H.O.R.S.E. should be played. (No-holds barred cutthroat style. Except for maybe not so much because kid? But yes.)

Little Old Lady teams up with the kid against them once the others drop out - because picnic the building set up and it’s a nice day and idk, happy funtimes and people enjoying one another’s company while Joe and Nicky get utterly destroyed at H.OR.S.E.

These and other lovely shenanigans?

But also that time a Baddie tracks them down.

Because of course it has to happen, right? Not necessarily someone who knows about the whole immortality business so much as some hired goon with an axe (lol) to grind and they’re the asshole’s target?

Or maybe it’s a new baddie who’s head of the team and some operation of theirs or an ally’s the team fucked up but good, and decide they can’t let that stand.

Joe and Nicky happen to be the ones they find first - luck or whatever else - and it starts out civil, as these things go.

Goons in suits knocking on doors around the building and asking questions, hold up photos of Joe and Nicky taken from security cameras/snooping about.

And of course, of course, the entire building is fiercely protective of those two sweet young men, you know?

Why Joe and Nicky could never do those horrible things the goons (posing as federal agents with shiny badges and all) say they did. Why, those two couldn’t hurt a fly! You’ve got the wrong people, agents.

Joe and Nicky know something’s going on, but they’ve got Team business and are away a fair amount as the Baddie sets things in motion, right?

Come back after one bout of heroing to Little Old Lady showering them in baked good and all? Invites herself in to help them put it all away and chides them about not watering that one houseplant someone gave them as a gift not too long ago and so on.

Just.

Unusual behavior from her and the others. Even the kid is acting weird, telling Joe and Nicky their mom wants to thank them for the basketball court restoration thingamabob by having them over to dinner.

(Belated kind o deal because that was months ago, but she had a big project at work and all these other things since and anyway, anyway, she’d like to have them over to thank them and of course they can’t say no to that, you know?)

The baddie has his goons watch the building, and happen to see Joe and Nicky getting back from another “business trip”, but before they can get to them Little Old Lady pops up and commandeers Joe and Nicky. Needs their help moving her couch or what have you.

And then, okay, everything makes sense with what their neighbors have been doing, protecting them from the baddie’s goons and whatnot?

Sweet as it is, they can’t let it go on because someone’s going to get hurt.

But they play along for the moment, let Little Old Lady and the kid and everyone else think they’re getting away with it (only everyone knows what’s going on - no one’s trying that hard to hide the truth about it, so long as they keep the goons from hurting Joe and Nicky and just. Yeah?)

But then!

The goons get tired of everyone’s interference and go after Joe and Nicky and the fighting begins!

Super cool choreography using the environment (and hidden weapons compartments and such???) and also swords, because of course.

The fighting spills out of Joe and Nicky’s place and down the hallway - Little Old Lady opens her door and trips one of the goons who’s taking aim at Nicky before slamming it shut and taking cover - and by the end of it it’s pretty damn obvious that Joe and Nicky are far from harmless?

Like.

The expected amount of blood and bits and bodies. Joe and Nicky restrained themselves because civilian environment, and also cops aren’t fond of responding to a call to find a literal bloody massacre greeting them.

Also, trying not to traumatize the kid. (Who incredible, yes, but still a kid and even the adults who see what happened are a little yikes, you know?)

ANYWAY.

Joe and Nicky are like, well, damn, because no way they can just keep on living there after all that, right?

Still have to deal with the head baddie and also no way anyone in the building wants people capable of what they did around?

AND YET.

Little Old Lady plays up the little old lady aspect? Granny perfume, knitted shawl, bifocals and oh, my, and goodness, look at all the mess, and could you speak up, young lady, my hearing’s not what it used to be and so on as the cops take her witness account.

Single Mom is just. :O that something like that could have happened, and are Joe and Nicky okay? They’re such nice people. Always a kind word, and so helpful! It’s just awful that something like this happened to them.

Joe and Nicky just ??? while looking like horror movie survivors (...or not, because that’s a lot blood and do you two need medical care?), one of them half-heartedly trying to hide the sword they’re still holding where the cops won’t notice it.

(They did, though. They so did.)

The poor cops who have been called to a horrific scene and are met with everyone’s concern for Joe and Nicky while the goons are carted away for medical care/morgue.

Absolutely know Joe and Nicky are far from innocent in all this? And yet! They are the victims here, right? Minding their own business and attacked by goons in their own home, why of course they had no choice but to defend themselves.

(Also, also, I am choosing to make Single Mom a lawyer or soon-to-be lawyer in this because it makes me stupidly happy? Like the cops are all “Okay, yes, but the swords???” while she’s like “Officer, please,” because America and there’s a store down the street that sells assault rifles for God’s sake. Seriously.)

In the end the cops can’t actually charge them for anything - okay, wait, no. Noise violation or some such because the goons with their guns and later the screaming?

The cops aren’t that interested in digging into matters because reasons? Joe and Nicky being so popular among their neighbors, sure, but other things like the basketball court and such that helped make their jobs easier? Low-key neighborhood watch and so on ~disguised as helping neighbors to and from their cars while chatting about their day and then maybe anonymous/not-so-anonymous tips about shady types loitering about.

(Look. Distinct accents? But also backgroiund noise and Joe/Nicky asking the other what they want for dinner and the cops are just. Plausible deniability all the way on this one.)

But whatever.

Joe and Nicky are like uh, what now?

The obvious, smart thing to do would be to move somewhere else after dealing with head baddie?

But it’s such a nice neighborhood and once thet/the team deal with head baddie there shouldn’t be a problem if they stick around for a couple more years before having to move on because lol, they don’t seem to have aged a day and all that.

Also, though, also.

Some time after all that hullabaloo and Andy and Nile stop by to make sure Joe and Nicky aren’t getting into trouble? (Ahaha, yeah. I’m pretty sure Andy and Nile would be the ones getting into trouble, but I digress.)

Just.

Andy and Little Old Lady staring one another down?

Little Old Lady taking in Andy’s axe in its carrying bag and doing that sniff, head toss thing before telling her she better not get those boys in trouble, understand?

Nile is looking between Little Old Lady and Andy like this is the best goddamn thing she’s ever seen, super freaking delighted and desperately wishing she could record it all to show Joe and Nicky because you know they’d love it too?

Andy all Cool and Haughty but secretly/not-so-secretly loving Little Old Lady and just, yessss.

They get the same treatment from all of Joe and Nicky’s neighbors they run across just to get to their apartment.

And when they finally get there it’s like. If they didn’t know something went down before all that, they sure as hell know now, you know?

Andy just gives them this look because of course this isn’t the first time something like happened with Joe and Nicky.

And, sure. They probably told Andy about it all as a precaution/matter of habit in case Something Happened to/with them? But they also handled it fine on their own, but now she and Nile get all the juicy details that couldn’t/always sound better in person over drinks and food and family meeting up again and yeah.

AND.

Some poor cop following up on Joe and Nicky or something only to be greeted by Andy (possibly holding her axe not in its carrying bag because cleaning/sharpening/honing it or Deep Emotional Moment involving it and probs a flashback or whatever) and is just

!!! before telling her why they’re there and getting the hell out as soon as they can because they’ve heard stories about The Incident with Joe and Nicky and there were swords involved?

Like.

Actual swords???

And now some lady has an axe??????

So, yes???

I feel I glossed over Joe and Nicky and their stupid adorable lives with the making dinner together and in-jokes and absent-minded kisses in the morning or in passing whenever?

Bickering/teasing and stealth!kisses.

(Also? Sparring and swordplay because they wouldn’t want to get sloppy! Also stealing kisses and pinned to surfaces and cocky grins/smirks and you know how this kind of thing goes, so yeah.)

But also, also.

I don’t know how alcohol affects them with the whole immortality/healing thing they’ve got going on? I’d assume they can’t really get drunk anymore, but!

The thought of Joe being a little tipsy or what have you while Nile is introducing the team to a movie or show and says something involving the phrase “It’s a love letter to....” regarding a remake or genre or actor or what have you, right?

Only for Joe to be “Love letter? Love letter?! They don’t know the first thing about love letters!” and goes off on a rant/composes a love letter on the spot to Nicky who is :DDDD and looking at Joe all sickeningly in love with him because yes, this is not a situation that deserves such ~passion for a thing? And yet, it’s Joe and he’s staring into Nicky’s eyes as he speaks and Nicky’s like, :DDDD because feelings and such. (Also, I feel Joe would finish his love letter to Nicky with another passionate kiss, so Nicky’s not about to interrupt him on that one, you know?

Meanwhile Nile is like “Please, no, this is the millionth time you’ve done this since I met you guys and I just want to show you this thing. I’m sorry I said anything, Andy please do something about them?”

Andy’s sitting there like, ah, yes, my idiots all soft and fond and sappy as shit over her team/family as Nile tries to get Joe to maybe save his heartfelt love letter to Nicky for after the movie instead?

#the old guard #joe x nicky #joe/nicky #prompt fills #Anon #technically not a fic #vagrant fic #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#Anonymous

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devilbat · 5 years

Text

Shiny Badge

Magnus Martinsson x Reader

A/n: I turned this in to a part two to New Partner.

Warning: Smut, longing, fluff..

@scorpionchild81 requested Magnus with smut 2 and 19 hope you like it..

2 "So, uh, I locked the keys in the car."

19 "You know body heats the best way to stop hypothermia."

Your day didn't have a great start. First, it was waking up three hours before your alarm and couldn't go back to sleep, so you got up. Then the fact that your landlord still didn't fix the water like he had said he would. So it was a cold shower for you. You stepped outside to a white winter, not so wonderful wasteland. The snow was not helping the fact you were already colder then Disney on ice. You were two hours late to work because your car decided it just didn't want to drive in the snow. Once you got to work, you were unpleasantly greeted by the one person you wanted to avoid. Magnus, his smug face greeted you as you walked in the doors. Giving you a little wink when you walked passed his desk.

"Well look who finally decided to show up!" He purred, spinning in his chair, watching you.

"Shut it Mags!" You hissed trying to hide your yawn.

"Decided to sleep in?" He chuckled, which got him the finger. You sat at your desk, shivering. You were still relatively frozen.

It had been about a month after your little excursion with Magnus. And he had this tendency not to let you forget it — little thing here and there when no one was looking. His hand would brush over your ass every now and then. Reaching over to grab something on the other side of you. Only for his arm to "bump" into your chest. A coy smile graced his lips when you glared at him. Never once apologising for his actions and acting like some horny teen. If you were in your right mind, you should have reported him for sexual assault. But in all truth, you may have like the small amount of attention. Even if he still annoyed you.

The rest of your day was relatively normal. The quite was excellent from the usual chaos that was a typical day at the precinct. The snow had slowed down some. Magnus had gone home at some point with a lot of other, and a few went on patrol. Finishing up for the night, you went to leave searching for your keys as you made the trek outside towards your car. That was when your lousy day decides to bit you in the ass literally, one wrong step, and in a cloud of white powder, there you were flat on your back looking up at the greyish night sky. If it weren't for the fact that you landed in the slushy part of the snow, you would have been fine, but no, it had to be the wet grey muck from cars coming and going, that you had to land in.

The content of your purse scattered about. Closing your eyes, you moved to pick everything up, noticing that your keys were still nowhere to be found. Standing up, you nearly fell again. You made it to your car to looking through the window; you spotted what you had been searching for just under the paper you were looking at on your lunch. You checked your vehicle to see if it was unlocked. Pulling on every handle repeatedly as you stride around your car. Heading back towards precinct you made a few calls trying to find anyone to help you out. But no such luck and every tow truck were currently helping someone else.

To make matters worse, the last person that walked out with you had locked the doors. And you didn't have your walkie to call for a patrol car to help you out. Not like you had everyone phone number in the station. Only a few, your boss, few of the girl's none of them seems to be able to help. That only left one person. And you were desperate and turning a lovely shade of blue.

"And what do I owe this pleasure?” Magnus's voice purred through the phone.

"So, uh, I locked the keys in the car." You blurted out, trying to keep your teeth from chattering.

"And how did you manage that?" He chuckled over the phone. You want to punch him sometimes.

"Look, Magnus, you are the last person I wanted to call for help. But I'm desperate freezing and soaked from falling twice in the snow." you huffed in annoyance. Magnus could hear your teeth through the phone. "And no one is in the station to let me in."

"Hang tight; I'll be there shortly." He stated before hanging up the phone. You were a bit shocked that he didn't give you a hard time or some curd comment. Leaning against the building, you waited, shielding yourself from the frigid air. You hadn't even settled fully along the wall when you saw someone walking in the snow, making there towards you.

"Your knight and shiny badge is here." Magnus pulled down the hood of his jacket. Noodles of curls sprong back to life after being smothered by the massive hood.

"Where the hell did you come from, I just called you." You shivered, rubbing your hands along your arms in a small attempt to keep you warm.

"I live around the corner. I figured I could try and unlock your car." he shrugged, pulling a slim Jim from his coat. Why didn't you think of that? Oh yeah, the ones you use are all in the police station.

"Oh." Was all you could get out. He walked to your car with you towed. Magnus shrugged his coat off and handed it to you.

"Put it on. You look like you might get hypothermia if you don't." He offered, at this point, you weren't going to decline his offer you shimmied into his wonderfully warm coat. Magnus went to work on your car, but his attempt wasn't any good either.

"All right, we have one of two options both you may not like. One we break the window or two as I said live around the corner, you can stay with me for the night as it's getting late." He suggested looking over to you.

"Well first off, I wouldn't have needed your assistance if I broke the window. So no on that one." You sighed, the snow started coming down harder the longer you both stood there.

"It's warm and dry, at least. Maybe get something inside you." His boyish smile spread across his face. You raised an eyebrow at his words. "I meant food, and you say I'm a perv. But hey. You know body heats the best way to stop hypothermia." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh my God, Mags." You rolled your eyes and started walking.

"Hey, do you even know where you are going?" He jogged up to you.

"Nope but if I don't find heat here soon. Well, let's say your body will be like that scene in Star Wars where Han Solo stuffs Luke Skywalker in the belly of the Tauntaun's." You smiled sweetly, even if your teeth were chattering.

"Yes, mama." Magnus chuckled, grinning at you he did enjoy your threats you were adorable when you get all hostile. He proceeded to guide you to his place. It was literally around the corner like he had said. He opened the door and helped you up the stairs.

Once inside his flat you took notes it was small but warm. His bed just barely big enough for two set off to the side against the wall of the room. A small kitchen table had piles of case files scattered about and two chairs on either side of the table. Other than the mess on the table, and some clothing was thrown about, it was relatively clean. You don't know why this shocked you, but it did.

"Here, these are clean. Let's get you out of those wet clothes." Magnus handed you a set of his clothes. "The bathroom is through there." He pointed at the only other door.

"Thank you." You smiled, you don't know why, but you kissed his cheek as you passed him. He was delightful to you. Leaving the bathroom, you watched as Magnus tidied up, picking his clothing off the ground. He spotted you a sly smile across his face and arms full.

"If you um would like I can wash your wet clothes for you." He licked his lips; his eyes travelled over your form in only his shirt.

"That would be lovely. And your sweat didn't have drawstrings and wouldn't stay up, so I went with this. I hope that's all right." You mumbled, rubbing your leg over the other as you tugged at the hem of his shirt, feeling shy all of a sudden. He always seemed to wear his clothes a bit baggier.

"Yeah." He nodded going gathering your clothes realising as he picked up you bra and panties that you were completely naked under his shirt. Swallowing hard as he moved along quickly. "Take the bed I'll be right back." He held the stack in his hands as he left the room.

When Magnus came back, you were in his bed. The idea of you in his bed only wearing his shirt made his heart rate speed up. Peeking from under the covers, you were about to say something when the power flickered, making you squeak.

"Did you just squeak?” Magnus chuckled, dodging the pillow you chucked at him.

"Shut up." You shuttered you watched as Magnus put the pillow on the floor, grabbing an extra blanket from his closet. "What are you doing?"

"Making my bed." He shrugged, pulling his shirt off. Giving you a good look at his toned body soon, his pants joined his shirt, leaving him in boxers. He was a sight at that, a sight you never really did get to appreciate that night in the car.

"Mags no, I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor. There is room up here. Besides what was it you said about body heat is the best way to stop hypothermia." You swallowed the lump in your throat looked down as you fidgeting with the Soft material.

Magnus laid there, stirring up at the ceiling arms at his side a bit awkwardly. You laid against him just as awkward unsure where to put your hand. He had gasped when you cold hand finally settled on his lean chest. You chewed on your button lip, wanting nothing more than to kiss him. Built-up frustration between the two of you. Magnus mumbled an apology when he moved his arm for his side. Finding a small amount of courage, you crawled on top of Magnus. At first, he thought you were trying to get off the bed, but when you stayed straddling his hips. Your hair cascaded down as you both stared at each other. He was about to say something, but you didn't give him a chance. You claimed his lips with yours.

His arms found your waist when you rolled your hip, grinding your damp fold over his covered growing length. He grunted and gasped under you. You nipped along his smooth jawline, reaching his ear. You gasped and moaned his name into his ear. Before you could further your assault on the man's jaw and neck, he had easily flipped over you onto your back a smirk along his boyish face.

"My turn, love." He whispered his body was hovering over yours. His lips moved in quickly, heating your frigid flesh with feverish kisses. His hands worked his shirt open, exposing you entirely to him. He hummed when he pulled away to look at you. Your face heated as he stared down, finally seeing you in the light and not a darkened corner of a highway in a cramped car. You went to cover yourself feeling a bit embarrassed. He pulled your hands from you, pulling them above your head.

"Hands where I can see them." He demands, and you raise an eyebrow at him. He moved to grab something from the nightstand next to the bed.

"Really, you're going to arrest me?" You rolled your eyes as he holds up his police-issued handcuffs. "Will I get out for good behavior?” you tease, wiggling under him. Your hands moved to touch his covered length biting your lower lip as you grope him. His boxers wet from your needy core.

"That all depends on you and how well you can behave." He groaned, his cock twitching in delight at your touch. He moved your hands back over your hand.

"You know I never thought innocent Magnus would have a bit of a naughty side." You gasped as you felt the cold steel bite into your wrists some. Your back arched in response.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, darling. Like there is a lot I don't know about you and will enjoy my time discovering all the little things that make you tick and sing." He licked his lips as he moved to kiss your lips once more before moving down to take one of your harden nipples into his mouth.

"Oh, oh." You gasped out, while he took his time with just your one nipple sucking, biting, letting his tongue swirl around before flicking it. He made your body restless. You were pulling at your restraints, the metal biting into soft skin. You hand grabbing ahold of the bar you were currently handcuffed too. "Please, Magnus, oh God stop testing and take me." His hand moved to play with your wet folds, cupping your heat, rubbing just right to make the little bundle of nerves go wild.

"You truly amazed me at how wet you get for me." His hands moved from you to pull his boxers down enough to free his swollen member. You looked down at his massive length. Licking your lips at the sight of him.

Your hips pushed off the mattress wanting what he held in his hand buried deep within you're tight walls. Magnus moved back on top of you. Slowly rubbing his heavy cock against soaked folds, the tip of his head teased your nerves, gathering enough of your arousal before sliding into you leaving you breathless. Not giving you time to adjust to him as he started moving in and out of your tight heat. Slowly at first savouring the feel of you and enjoying you going mad with lust. It didn't take long for you to lose yourself to your first orgasm; he honestly had a gift of having you come undone easily.

"Magnus." You cried out, your back arched into him. His deep hard thrusts quickened as they become more urgent needy even. He had you teetering on the edge your hand shook, trying to find their escape wanting nothing more than to grab ahold of him as he took you harder. Your walls clamped around his throbbing cock-squeezing him. He soon found his release deep within your wall, coating them with ropes of his hot cum. You found yourself coming with him as you milked him for all he had to give. He stilled and found the key to release your hands. Gently holding them into his as he brought them to his lips, kissing the inside of your wrists tenderly.

"Were these too tight?" He asked as he laid your hands down gently. You shook your head no before you grabbed his hands with yours.

You had finally fallen asleep after Magnus took care of cleaning you up, kissing your wrist more than once making sure he did hurt you. Also making sure you were warm enough. Magnus woke when you whimpered in your sleep. He watched you for a while before he got up. He walked over to the small kitchen table as he rummaged through case files looking for one in particular. Opening the file once he found it. Your rookie photo was staring at him before you became a detective. He wanted to know the mystery that sent you here, clear across the world. Pen in hand, he took notes before he knew it you slid into his lap a blanket only covering you.

"Come back to bed, Mags." You whimper kissed him. He smiled against your lips. Dropping the pen and pulled a stake of files over yours.

"As you wish." His arms snake around your waist, pulling you to him before he picked you up, carrying you back to bed.

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#magnus martinsson #magnus martinsson x reader #Tom Hiddleston #AU #tom hiddleston fanfic

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thewhumperinwhite · 4 years

Text

Cafe Soulmates: Eye Trauma Edition

SO it occurred to me that with the timeline I set for Soulmate AU, Pax’s mark is a reference to the fact that they only have one eye, but the events that result in the loss of their eye (as detailed in A Vivid Memory) don’t actually have any reason to occur if they meet the boys before the Bad End of their relationship with Vic. So their mark is a reference to a thing that Doesn’t Actually Occur.

So I, you know, Fixed That.

This takes place a few months after Soulmate AU parts one and two, with references to events that happen immediately after part 2, which i’m keeping intentionally vague for now.

(also just cause there’s a very brief reference to it here and in the last one: part of the Lore is that soulmate marks fade to gray if the person they represent dies.)

TW for: EYE TRAUMA, referenced unhealthy relationship dynamics/abusive relationship/gaslighting, gore, betrayal; mild unhealthy thought patterns; vague references to a past suicide attempt.

@whumpitywhumpwhump @burtlederp @gottalovethemwriters

----

The objective of Pax’s trip back upstate to Vic’s lab is to get their stuff and say goodbye. And their soulmates’ guarded sympathy (Kent) and open horror (Sol) at Pax’s description of their relationship (with their boss, who is more than twice as old and three times as rich as they are) is still very fresh in their mind.

But... but it’s harder to remember in Vic’s actual presence. When they tell him they’re leaving, he takes it so well, gathers up the few things he ever let them actually leave at his house (they’ve always been his dirty little secret, that was the initial appeal of the whole thing), cups their face in his soft cold hand and tells them he’ll miss them, and it’s—suddenly it seems dumb that Sol and Kent were so worried about this, that Sol practically begged them not to come. Sol and Kent are—well, Pax loves them, obviously, and knows they want the best for them. But they’re also naïve babies who are probably—projecting their own trauma onto a perfectly safe illicit affair that Pax has under complete control.

So—because it’s in person, and Vic smiles and squeezes their hand, and they owe him after all the patience he had with them when they were young and embarrassing—when Vic says he wishes Pax could help him with one more thing, as a real goodbye, Pax doesn’t say no.

----

Sol is pacing, and he doesn’t know how long he’s been pacing but it must be for a long time because Kent is one of the most patient people he knows and even Kent is starting to get impatient with him.

“It’s just—It’s just a bad fucking idea,” he says, as his best attempt at a defense.

“I know,” Kent says.

“I mean, Jesus, they wouldn’t even tell us this guy’s name, how fucking shady is that? And they fucking worked for him.”

“I know,” Kent says.

“And they’re—they want us to think they’re so tough, they want us to think there’s nothing that can hurt them, but they’re not that much older than we are,” he says, taking a long drag that kills his third cigarette in ten minutes.

“I know,” Kent says, appearing suddenly in front of Sol and distracting him with a warm hand on his shoulder and then snatching the cigarette out of his mouth. “Sol,” Kent says, and searches Sol’s face with his big blue eyes, and then sighs. “Will you sit down, please? You’re making me dizzy.” And Kent steps back out of his space, taking Sol’s cigarette with him, which isn’t fair at all. Sol plops down on his shitty couch, running a hand roughly through his hair.

Kent stubs the cigarette carefully out on an ashtray Karine made in tenth grade art class—one of the few things Sol took with him when he left home, and probably the dumbest of them—and Sol literally isn’t even trying to be an asshole when he immediately pulls another one out of his pocket and lights it. He just needs something to do with his hands and his mouth.

Kent turns back, sees the lit cigarette in Sol’s mouth, draws back like an angry mother (Sol imagines, anyway; he doesn’t actually remember having one of those). Sol blinks at him. “What?” he says blankly around the cigarette.

“Jesus Christ, Sol,” Kent snaps, stomping forward, and this time he doesn’t bother with the cigarette dangling from Sol’s surprised parted lips, he dives straight for the pocket of Sol’s hoodie instead. “Give me your fucking lighter,” he snaps.

“What? No!” Sol shoves Kent’s hand away and Kent obligingly plants his knee next to Sol’s hip and climbs halfway in Sol’s lap, which is more than enough incentive for Sol not to give in easily. He leans back, more to keep from burning Kent with the end of his cigarette than anything else, and grabs the hand Kent is using to reach for his pocket to twine their fingers together and trap Kent’s hand against his chest. Kent uses his other hand to grab the lit cigarette and toss it behind him—it lands on the glass-top coffee table, so that should be fine—and his fingertips brush Sol’s lips, and then he twists that arm between them to reach for Sol’s pocket, grabbing hold of Sol’s lighter and darting his hand behind his back. Sol leans into him to reach for it, and Kent twists until Sol’s momentum tips him over backwards onto the couch, trapping his hand and Sol’s lighter underneath him, and Sol laughs, grateful for the transparent effort at a distraction, and swings his leg across Kent’s hips, happy enough to wrestle if that’s what Kent—

They both feel it at the same time.

The explosion of phantom pain in the whole right hemisphere of Sol’s face punches all the air out of him, his head dropping onto Kent’s chest, and he feels Kent gasp under him, hit with the same force—the pain is sharp, and burning, and not theirs.

Sol can’t move because horror has pulled all his muscles tight and he can’t relax them enough even to lift his head. Kent is equally still underneath him.

“Oh no,” Kent says, his voice all breath.

“Where are they,” Sol whispers, and he feels Kent force in a breath underneath him, hopes to god he’s getting something—Kent can feel shit Sol can’t even tell is there, and—and Pax is the best with directions, goddammit, but Sol will make it work, between the two of them they can—they can—

Kent sits up, pushing Sol off with one hand, gentle because he’s too distracted to use his full strength. His other hand is pressed hard over his right eye.

“They’re—they—fuck,” Kent croaks, holding a fistful of Sol’s hoodie like he needs it to stay upright. “I can’t—I can’t think, Sol, they’re hurt,” Kent says, his voice rising in growing panic.

“Can you tell what’s wrong?” Sol asks him urgently, reaching for Kent’s shoulder to better see his face, and because he knows Kent panics less when you hold him tightly—and Kent’s got the best sense of the three of them, his feelings are more specific. Sol’s is already fading to nothing but a dull ache in his head, he knows it’s physical pain but beyond that it could be anything.

Kent lets Sol turn him, though the eye he isn’t covering is unfocused and he isn’t seeing Sol at all. “It’s bad,” Kent whispers, his voice soft and horrified. “Is this what it was like when you—?”

“Yes,” Sol says immediately, but Kent is staring at him now instead of through him, his eye widening in alarm, and while Sol watches Kent drops the hand he’s had pressed against his face and reaches out toward Sol and—pushes the collar of Sol’s hoodie open, his fingers brushing lightly where their shared mark sits above the collar of his undershirt—the mark they’ve both had since birth, Pax’s mark.

It’s a stylized image of an eye, with a sharp slash down the middle of it.

“Phone,” Kent says, and his eyes dart back up to Sol’s face, all trace of panic gone, replaced with a firm mouth and blazing eyes; Sol’s heart seizes painfully in his chest because it’s a very Pax expression. “Ping their phone. Even if they don’t have it with them it’s a start.” And then he’s on his feet, shrugging into the coat he’s been borrowing from Sol. “I’m gonna start asking the neighbors if one of them will let us use their car.”

“You what?” Sol says, scrambling to his feet. He’s lived in this apartment for three years, during which time he’s cultivated what he considers a very healthy don’t-tell-the-landlord-about-the-extra-people-living-in-my-apartment-and-I-won’t-tell-him-about-the-impenetrable-weed-fog-from-yours-Dave-from-317 relationship. He certainly doesn’t know any of them well enough to say “hey, yeah, sorry, another soulmate bleeding to death, can I borrow your car.”

“They like me. I watch General Hospital with Miriam in 309 when you’re at work. Ping their phone.”

And Kent whirls out of Sol’s apartment like he isn’t hiding from the cops. “What the fuck,” Sol mutters to himself.

Then he sees where the icon for Pax’s phone is. His second “what the fuck” is a lot louder.

----

Pax’s arm is shaking badly from the effort of pressing it against their eye, trying to stop the blood, and it still isn’t working, is still gushing between their fingers and running down their face. They barely feel the second hit, when the knife slides between their ribs, and then they dive for the gun, falling over and sliding in their own blood, and spin around, not trying to get up, and pull the trigger three times.

The dry click of the empty chamber is the loudest sound they’ve ever heard.

The security guard pulled to a stop when they pointed the gun, and now he grins and takes a step closer, so Pax whips the gun end over end at his head as hard as they can, and then they follow it, throwing themself at the arm holding the knife. They gun hits the guard’s forehead, hard, rocking him back, and Pax gets a good (blood-slick) grip on his arm, but they have to take their hand off their eye in the interest of getting ahold of the knife, and now the blood is fairly pouring down their face and hot and sticky down their neck and soaking into the collar of their shirt. The guard’s arm swings behind him with the force of their momentum and when he doesn’t immediately drop the knife they think fuck it and turn their head, open their mouth, and sink their teeth into his bicep, hard. The guard howls and his hand loosens around the knife enough that Pax can wrap their bloody fingers around the handle, they’re pulling it from his hand with a surge of desperate triumph and then the guard makes a fist with his other arm and slams it full force against Pax’s ruined right eye.

Pax screams. (A hundred miles away, Sol almost swerves off the road.)

They don’t lose their hold of the knife, but suddenly they’re on their back and the guard is standing above them, panting, clutching his arm below the shoulder where Pax bit him. His knuckles are dripping with Pax’s blood.

The door of the lab they’ve been fighting over slides open and Vic Michaelis is standing in the doorway. Pax feels the eye they still have well up immediately even though Vic isn’t a fighter, because Vic is a grown up and he’ll know what to do.

Vic looks at them on the floor, looks at the gun--the gun Vic gave them, which was empty, why would--that’s a big mistake to make if he knew there was security here, how could he even have--

“You idiot,” Vic says. “What the fuck is this?” He stomps into the room, headed straight for the guard, who—isn’t attacking. “What part of ‘no serioius damage’ was unclear to you?”

Pax stares up at Vic. Blood is pouring down their face but they can’t move, they are frozen completely solid.

“Oh, fuck you, man,” the guard says, annoyed. “Asshole fucking bit me. You didn’t pay me to catch a fucking weasel.”

This—isn’t happening. It isn’t—they—no. Pax scoots back, away from Vic and the guard, who are now standing next to each other, and not fighting, and both looking down at where they are sprawled on the floor. Vic’s face is—irritated, harried, and nothing deeper than that.

“Ugh,” Vic says, wrinkling his nose down at Pax. “Christ. What a mess.”

Pax stares at Vic. Thinks of his stillness while he listened to them tell him they were leaving and not coming back. Thinks of the way his face went blank before he smiled and told them he was happy. Thinks of the things in his lab, and how Pax decided years ago to pretend they didn’t know, and how they told themselves it was because they loved him, and how really it was because they were afraid.

Vic turns to the guard, maybe to give him instructions. The guard glares at him. Neither of them are looking at Pax, and the blood-covered knife is still in their hand.

There’s a part of them—the part made of wounded pride and hurt feelings, that thinks being known as a gullible child is worse than being dead—that would like to throw themselves at Vic Michaelis, bowl him over, stay until one of them is dead and either way they aren’t stuck as some dumbass easy-to-fuck-over sugar baby, and six months ago when there was nothing to lose except their pride they would have listened.

But they’ve got more to lose, now, and they can’t hurt themselves without also hurting other, better, more important people.

They throw the knife instead.

It spins end over end and buries itself in Vic’s sternum. It’s not a great wound, not lethal or even that inconvenient, probably, but it does buy them enough time to shoot to their feet and sprint for the door of the lab.

With their back turned they don’t know who fires the shot that clips their shoulder on the way out. But they’re pretty sure the guard didn’t have a gun.

In a different world, when Pax Field makes it out of the lab and into the surrounding woods and collapses against a tree to pant and press their hand over their eye and sob, as quietly as they can, sinking to the forest floor and shaking with the force of it, they are utterly, entirely alone. They cry for twenty minutes at the most and then they drag themselves up and stumble four miles to a payphone and call 911. It is the most alone they ever feel in a life characterized, at least at the start, entirely by loneliness.

In this world love is written across their chest and around their wrists in bold colors, and they curl up at the base of the tree and press their forehead into their knees and their hand over their ruined eye and think, as hard and as loud as they can, come find me. Come find me. Come find me.

---

The last thirty miles of the drive upstate hurtle by in tense silence. Sol grips the wheel at perfect ten-and-two with white knuckles; Kent doesn’t have a wheel to grip so he leans forward with his hands against the dashboard instead. The car belongs to Dave from 317, whose soulmark is on the back of his knee, gray as smoke, and who didn’t even wait for Kent to finish his plea before he handed the keys over.

There will be time for Sol to rethink his impressions of his neighbors later, maybe. Like there will be time to wonder what the fuck Pax’s phone is doing at his father’s house. Sometime after they get there and he stops his soulmate from dying, again.

When they’re still more than ten miles away from the house where Sol grew up, where Pax’s fucking sugar daddy apparently lives, which is math Sol is desperately keeping his brain from doing because there will be plenty of time to throw up after Pax isn’t dying, Kent suddenly lurches forward, hand shooting out to grip Sol’s shoulder almost painfully, and yells “Wait!”

Sol slams on the brakes without even consciously deciding to, and stares at Kent, almost panting.

“Turn here,” Kent says, indicating a tiny little turnoff half hidden in overgrown bushes and weeds.

“What?” Sol says, squinting into the darkness. “There’s nothing here, their phone—”

“It’s this way,” Kent says, leaning forward in his seat, eyes fixed on the darkness of that little trail like he can see into it. His hand is still on Sol’s shoulder, though he isn’t squeezing anymore; it seems more like he’s forgotten it’s there.

“Fuck,” Sol says, “fine, okay,” and he turns off the road, and then feels a hot line of pain rip through the top of Pax’s shoulder; the car fishtails badly and he only just manages to hit the brake again before it goes plows into a line of trees.

Sol hunches over the wheel, gasping. Kent’s hand is in a fist on Sol’s shoulder again, holding a handful of Sol’s hoodie like it’s a lifeline.

“Fucking drive,” Kent wails, and Sol wrestles the car back onto the little half-overgrown road and hits the gas hard.

Halfway down the road Kent flaps his hand, hitting Sol’s shoulder repeatedly like a little kid trying to get their parents’ attention. “Stop the car stop the car stop the car—”

And when Sol does Kent throws his door open almost before they’ve come to a stop and throws himself out into the dark woods.

“Fuck!” Sol yells, and stumbles out after him.

The moon is out, and this far from the city the stars are bright on Kent’s hair, and Sol thinks if Kent weren’t blonde he’d have lost him a dozen times over by now. The trees fly by; Kent’s hurtles through them at a dead sprint and Sol has to push himself hard to keep up, with no idea where there going, just trusting that Kent knows, and trusting Pax to hold together till they get there, and trusting himself to be any help at all when they do. Branches scratch at his face and grab at his jeans and his hoodie and he barely feels them at all, all his focus on the uneven ground under his feet and the blonde head bobbing along in front of him.

Kent stops so abruptly that Sol has to grab a passing tree to keep from tumbling right into him, and then he makes a horrible sound—a sharp cry that sounds like it’s been torn out of him—and stumbles forward again, falling to his knees in front of a dark shape that Sol can’t really see in the darkness.

Then the sky clears even more or Sol’s eyes adjust or soul magic intervenes because he can see that the shape is a person with a mess of pink hair, curled up at the base of a tree with their knees drawn up to their chest and their head bowed.

Then they look up and Sol draws back so fast he slips on the muddy ground and lands hard on his ass.

“Shit,” Kent says, his hands hovering over Pax’s blood-matted hair, the gory ruin of the right half of their face, their torn-open shoulder, like he wants to pull them close but is afraid to touch them. Sol scrambles towards them on his hands and knees to see better—their face is the hardest to look away from, the hand pressed over their eye is more red than brown, the blood running in half-dried rivulets down their arm; their black turtleneck is stiff and shiny with it.

Pax looks at them, sees them, incredibly; raises the hand not pressed to their face to grab a fistful of Kent’s shirt, and gurgles, “You came,” in a terrible wet voice.

Kent turns back to Sol, his face set and determined again. “We’ve got to get them to the car.”

Sol stares at him, feeling like a kid, feeling scared stupid. Then he muscles the fear down, swallows it and doesn’t let himself gag, squares his shoulders. “You can’t lift for shit,” he says, scooting closer. “I’ve got them.”

Pax hears him say it, and seems to sigh out all the tension that’s been keeping them upright, and immediately sags sideways; Sol catches them, exchanges a frightened look with Kent, and gathers them in, more carefully than he’s ever done anything. Pax is taller than he is, there’s no non-awkward way to do it, and he ends up lifting them onto his hip like a huge blood-covered baby, their long muscly legs wrapped around his waist, and Pax clings to him tightly, crossing their feet together behind his back and using the hand that isn’t holding their eye in their head to grab onto the back of Sol’s shirt and hold on, two-hundred pounds of dense muscle; and their shoulder-wound is easy to forget about in comparison to their face but Sol can immediately feel blood from it soaking into his hoodie and the adrenaline keeps him going, while Kent clears the way in front of him at a tense jog, warning him of roots he can’t see and sweeping branches out of his way.

They’ll have to pay Dave to get his car cleaned, Sol thinks, when he lowers Pax into the backseat. Kent climbs in with them and Pax leans against him, and then huffs out a shaky breath and climbs over into his lap, burying their face in his shoulder. Kent goes tense as a wire—presumably at the terrifying volume of tacky half-dry blood involved—and then visibly makes himself relax, digs in his pocket and tosses his phone towards where Sol is hovering just outside the car.

“Search for the nearest hospital,” he says tersely, and Sol is halfway through typing it in when Pax’s voice drifts outs, muffled by Kent’s shirt.

“…can’t go… hospital,” they mutter.

Sol stares at them. “You what?” he snaps.

Pax lifts their head to frown at Kent. Their hand is still pressed over their eye; their nose and Kent’s are almost touching. “We fucking. Kidnapped you. They’ll catch you. We can’t go to a hospital.”

Kent stares at Pax, somewhere between horrified and furious. “You—who cares? Pax, you’re fucking bleeding to death!”

Pax frowns. It’s a small car and there really isn’t room for them to sit up while they’re on Kent’s lap; they lean back against the front seatback, their knees braced on either side of Kent’s thighs. “So were you,” they say nonsensically, sounding almost defensive.

Sol can just barely see Kent’s embarrassed flush in the moonlight, and he turns his head away, so he’s not looking at Sol or Pax. “Yeah, and you made me go to the hospital,” he snaps.

Pax plucks at Kent’s shirt, the visible less-bloody half of their face softening, until Kent looks back at them.

“They’ll catch you,” Pax says softly, their visible eye big and sad while the other side of their face is utterly covered in blood.

Kent stares at them, still with that defensive-furious-alarmed look on his face.

“Clinic,” Sol says, almost to himself, and then grabs Kent’s sleeve in one hand and Pax’s in the other so they both turn to look at him, Pax rather unsteadily. “We passed a clinic on the way here.”

Kent’s frown deepens. “A local clinic won’t have the resources for—”

“And in the middle of the night a local clinic’ll have a much smaller staff for us to threaten or bribe if that’s what we have to do,” Sol says, trying to sound absolutely certain. He looks at Pax, who’s breathing hard but now almost smiling at him, and then at Kent, who very much isn’t.

“There’s still three of us,” Sol says to him, and Kent blinks, hard, like he wants to drop his gaze but can’t. “They’re not taking you away from me any more than they’re taking Pax.”

Pax sags sideways, halfway out of the car, until Sol catches them, which was apparently their intention; they bonk their head lightly against his shoulder. “Good. Good boy, Sol. Thanks.”

Sol shakes his head, loving them so much his stomach hurts, and pushes them back upright. “Okay, idiot. Then when we get you sewn back together you can explain why you didn’t tell me you were fucking my dad.”

“What,” says Kent. Pax sighs, and leans forward to hide their face in Kent’s shoulder again.

“Your dad’s an asshole,” they say, which is the opposite of the denial Sol was hoping for.

But there will be time to unpack that horrible mess later. Plenty of time, because none of them are going to die.

Sol climbs into the front seat of the borrowed car and guns the engine. He’s pretty sure he can remember the way back to the clinic whose sign they passed on the way here. And after that he’s pretty sure he can make them save Pax whether they want to or not. That’s about as far into the future as Sol can even try to see. But there’s still three of them, and really he doesn’t need anything more than that.

#soulmate au #cafe extras #whump #original whump #eye horror #betrayal #rescue #polyamorous soulmates #oc: pax #oc: kent #oc: sol #eye trauma tw #gore tw

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trashyeggroll · 4 years

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how did you to do all that fix it stuff? your parents? youtube? the name of your 1st born? the extent of my home skills is drilling shelves into walls but i want to be better. seeing you do thing with the vent? so cool!! idrk what happened but good job!

Hey thanks anon!! I cannot recommend watching YouTube videos of old men fixing very specific things; they have no flair or fuss and they tend to give you some workarounds as they do things, if you run into trouble. Plus, I’ve seen like... every episode of Holmes Inspection 🤩

But, unfortunately there is a barrier to access in that I’ve also tried a lot of projects without the proper tools at my first house, and I learned my lesson with wonky fixes and having to redo things.

For all the projects I’ve been doing, bare minimum power tools we needed were:

1. A drill

2. A sawzall

3. A jigsaw

4. A laser level

It gets easier when you have things like chop saws to do quick, straight cuts, but those are way expensive so we are borrowing one. Miter cuts are the corner cuts that are used to make nice corners that meet at 45 degrees, and if you have to do something like that, it’s honestly not worth doing without a chop saw or miter saw to make it near perfectly aligned. Here’s everything we have compiled over the years:

And then it’s just a matter of being careful measuring stuff, resisting the urge to cut corners because the old men tend to be right, and be prepared for things to be way more difficult than you think lol. It took us in total about sixteen hours to do the sink project alone; the two of us spent our entire Sunday working on it. The old owner was a landlord so he didn’t really take great care of the place, and there was a pipe leak that had been going on so long that the whole floor under the sink was sunken like a bowl and mildewing 😷

Intending to just replace the floor and insulation, I ripped out the old floor with a claw hammer and crowbar, and under the moldy insulation, I found the open vent that wasn’t connected to anything—so that immediately made the replacing the undersink floor project more complicated, and we went to the hardware store maybe 4 times and spent hours there too.

Fixing the leak that caused all the damage and for me to rip up the floor in the first place... took literally 10 minutes and some plumbers tape 😬😬😬 But! Now our HVAC is that much more efficient because it isn’t just blowing air into the floor! It’s not perfect and I doubt a professional would’ve done it the way we did, but it’s not going to be mildewy and the air is moving the right way 🤙🏼

#asks

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f4liveblogarchives · 4 years

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Fantastic Four Vol 1 #201

Tues Aug 27 2019 [12:08 AM] Wack'd: So this is the last regular issue of 1978 [12:08 AM] Wack'd: There's also an annual. And also last year's annual because there's literally no room in 1977 or 1978 for it to have happened, so Marvel Wiki shoved it here [12:10 AM] Wack'd: We opened with us still being in Latveria! Okay, sure [12:10 AM] Wack'd: Definitely the outfit of a man who's planning on putting together some meaningful democratic elections

[12:11 AM] maxwellelvis: That hat looks familiar... [12:11 AM] Wack'd: But he confirms he is. He's real happy that political parties are forming and that there's "fighting and endless squabbling" because it means progress is happening [12:12 AM] Wack'd: Political parties never result in anything bad happening, ever, especially when they hate each other's guts [12:12 AM] Umbramatic: yes [12:12 AM] maxwellelvis: SupercalifragalisticexpielaWACKY! [12:13 AM] Wack'd: So the team returns to the Baxter Building, mostly because it's the only place in NY they can put the Pogo Plane [12:13 AM] Wack'd: Reed is still kinda iffy on reforming the team, which naturally everyone rolls their eyes at [12:14 AM] Wack'd: Collins is there to greet them! Good old Collins [12:15 AM] Wack'd: Even though the Four are a damn nuisance there's literally no one who wants to rent the Four's old headquarters, for fear of supervillain attacks, so he offers to let them back in..."for, ahem, a raise in the basic rent, of course, to make up for my losses" [12:15 AM] maxwellelvis: Yer a peach, Collins [12:15 AM] Wack'd: Ben is like "actually, fuck you, we want the rent lowered, a promise that the heat will stay on, and a promise of no solicitors" [12:16 AM] Wack'd: Collins...doesn't really have a choice unless he wants to keep losing money on like a sixth of the building [12:17 AM] maxwellelvis: Y'know, I think I'd take Mr. Ditkovich as my landlord over Collins. [12:17 AM] maxwellelvis: How about you guys? [12:17 AM] Wack'd: And so within the day contractors are on the scene to get the Four back in working order [12:17 AM] Wack'd: Just, uh, regular ol' contractors, apparently! Who are a little baffled by Reed's talk of "ion displacer cables" and "Negative Zone locking mechanisms" [12:18 AM] Wack'd: But they're doing their best [12:20 AM] Wack'd: Johnny maybe you're not having any luck on the dating scene lately because you're a misogynist

[12:21 AM] maxwellelvis: Frommage? Sue, I think you've been swindled. [12:21 AM] Wack'd: She means From Mage. It's a magic dress [12:21 AM] Wack'd: It's actually really impressive Johnny managed to set it on fire [12:22 AM] Wack'd: Hey hey! A good ol' fashioned Baxter cutaway. I've missed these.

[12:23 AM] Wack'd: And, for the first time, an acknowledgment that the building has two other walls on which rooms can be constructed [12:23 AM] maxwellelvis: Interesting that Ben's quarters are marked "when he's staying at the building" [12:23 AM] maxwellelvis: and also "Room X" [12:24 AM] maxwellelvis: Bet we're going in there soon. [12:24 AM] Wack'd: Ben and Alicia are living together, presumably. [12:24 AM] Wack'd: In siiiiiiin [12:24 AM] maxwellelvis: If it's good enough for Sweet Aunt Petunia, it's good enough for them, I guess. [12:24 AM] Wack'd: So, uh [12:24 AM] Wack'd: Franklin is now ten years old, assuming time is still moving [12:25 AM] maxwellelvis: You'd think that it is, and yet... [12:25 AM] Wack'd: He still has a crib. And a door that opens directly into his parents room [12:25 AM] Bocaj: Room X FROM OUTER SPACE [12:25 AM] Wack'd: But I think my favorite detail is--and I'll admit there's maybe no way to avoid this problem--there's a rocket launch pad right next to Franklin's room [12:26 AM] Bocaj: Amazing [12:26 AM] Wack'd: That kid is gonna have some sleepless nights [12:26 AM] maxwellelvis: Maybe that's how Comic Book Time gets you. It creeps in, in small doses at first, until you have something like that staring you in the face. [12:26 AM] Wack'd: I mean probably that makes a fuckton of noise wherever you put it but Franklin needs ten hours a night! He's a growing boy! [12:26 AM] Wack'd: Right next to his room is by far the worst option! [12:27 AM] Wack'd: Also, hey. No place for Agatha. So I guess we're done with her being a live-in nanny [12:27 AM] Wack'd: In fairness Franklin is back to having the regular presence of two parents. In theory [12:28 AM] Wack'd: So back to the story [12:29 AM] maxwellelvis: She might be living down the way at Avengers Mansion. [12:29 AM] Wack'd: Reed, the police exist to oppress minorities. And other superheroes...are probably fine, relatively, that's a good point. NYC is fucking packed

[12:30 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Reed is attacked by "Microbe 201-B" and now I want to see them try and shoehorn the issue number into every story somehow [12:31 AM] Wack'd: 201-B has grown a lot and escaped its test tube, baffling Reed [12:31 AM] Wack'd: This is probably why you don't hire normal contractors to set up a superscience lab [12:32 AM] Wack'd: Anyway 201-B eats Reed. Bye Reed [12:32 AM] maxwellelvis: Oh no, it's the Intruder! Everyone run! [12:33 AM] Wack'd: Ben and Sue are also attacked [12:33 AM] Wack'd: Ben by his own superscience exercise equipment and Sue by lasers and then a water main break [12:35 AM] Wack'd: Sue, honey, you spent 20 issues divorced and another ten with the team splitting up and got basically no character development. Being away from the team does not guarantee you an interesting arc

[12:36 AM] Wack'd: Johnny is also attacked. But also these are his thoughts so something big is coming, maybe, possibly.

[12:36 AM] Wack'd: Johnny is attacked by fire extinguisher foam because of course he is [12:37 AM] Wack'd: But he manages to escape by flying outside the building and manages to rescue Ben and Sue [12:37 AM] Wack'd: Sue who, I'll remind you, was attacked by a burst pipe [12:37 AM] Wack'd: And is unconscious in a pool of water when they find her [12:38 AM] Wack'd: Reed has escaped from being ate off-panel and is now instructing Johnny to go shut down the main power core [12:39 AM] Wack'd: Johnny is immediately taken out by some gas traps because obviously the main power core is booby-trapped, c'mon [12:40 AM] Wack'd: So Sue goes in after him and manages to stop all the traps with her force field. There's a sequence code to turn off the main power core that if you get it wrong it explodes, because sure [12:40 AM] Wack'd: The obvious solution is to put in the wrong code on purpose and then contain the explosion with a force field so she does that [12:40 AM] Bocaj: This is why you more carefully choose contractors [12:41 AM] Wack'd: If that's the moral of the issue I will be mildly shocked [12:41 AM] Wack'd: I totally believe any given Marvel writer would have a bad experience getting their home fixed and then write a mean-spirited story about it [12:42 AM] Wack'd: So Reed goes over the computer and finds no problems but is gonna call Tony Stark to look them over [12:42 AM] Bocaj: I like the guy but Tony Stark is the last person you should call about a computer malfunction [12:42 AM] Wack'd: Tony Stark: the best at knowing when machines have turned evil [12:42 AM] Bocaj: His whole life is a computer malfunction [12:43 AM] Bocaj: You'd think it would give him expertise but consider also that it keeps happening and never stops from happening [12:43 AM] Wack'd:

[12:43 AM] Wack'd: A few things to note here: [12:44 AM] Wack'd: 1. Yes, those were Ben's exact words. Which means Ben was making fun of "with great power comes great responsibility" like half a year before it was a thing. [12:44 AM] Wack'd: Anyone who doesn't like when Marvel gets self-deprecating or too meta can shove it [12:45 AM] Wack'd: 2. This is still a hilariously simple rationale for getting the team back together, especially since it has nothing to do with why the team split up and only addresses concerns that were first raised this very issue [12:46 AM] Wack'd: 3. Steve Martin was presumably real big in 1978 [12:46 AM] maxwellelvis: He was, actually [12:47 AM] Wack'd: 4. "The Osmond family" is still a metanym for wholesome togetherness. I don't think I need to tell any of you that's not gonna last very long, which is fine, because the Four aren't a very "wholesome togetherness" kinda group anyway [12:47 AM] Bocaj: They get more wholesomeishesque as time goes on [12:48 AM] Bocaj: At least they have a very dangerous edge in the early stuff [12:48 AM] maxwellelvis: The late 1970's is exactly when Steve Martin was at his peak, at least strictly as a comedian [12:48 AM] Wack'd: It's weird when rosy memories of a thing retroactively whitewash their sharper edges. Happened with Jiminy Cricket and Kermit the Frog something fierce [12:49 AM] maxwellelvis: Oh yeah, I remember Jiminy Cricket being surprisingly horny. [12:49 AM] Bocaj: wut [12:49 AM] Wack'd: He's also kind of a snarky asshole, too [12:49 AM] maxwellelvis: Especially to that rotten Lampwick kid. [12:49 AM] Wack'd: Most of his moralizing at Pinocchio takes the form of yelling or lectures or just making fun of him [12:50 AM] maxwellelvis: He HATED that boy. Not Pinocchio, Lampwick. [12:50 AM] Wack'd: Anyway I think the Four are mostly wholesome by comparison? Like Bart Simpson. They're never gonna be flawless role models but as time goes on and you can depict more bad stuff they slowly slide towards the acceptable end of edginess [12:51 AM] Wack'd: Like, they're closer to Mickey Mouse than Deadpool but mostly because Deadpool is waaaaay out in the deep end [12:51 AM] KarkatTheDalek: Bart isn't that wholesome [12:51 AM] Wack'd: Yeah but compared to. I dunno. Stewie Griffin. Which is a real comparison Family Guy spent like an hour making that one time. Also Cartman which is something South Park also got into [12:51 AM] maxwellelvis: He isn't the iconoclast he was in 1989 anymore either, Karkat [12:52 AM] Wack'd: Edgy cartoons love making fun of how mundane Bart's troublemaking is [12:52 AM] KarkatTheDalek: That is true [12:52 AM] Bocaj: It has the same energy as Spawn declaring that "Only SISSIES change their costumes in a phone booth" [12:53 AM] Bocaj: It immediately fills me with disdain towards the property trying to be so edgy in comparison [12:53 AM] KarkatTheDalek: But I do recall an episode where they were at the dentist, and Bart saw Skinner loopy on the laughing gas, so he went in, pretended to be the dentist, then practically beat the shit out of him before pointing the x-ray machine directly at his balls [12:53 AM] Wack'd: We're getting off track [12:53 AM] KarkatTheDalek: Probably, yes

#1978 #Marv Wolfman #Keith Pollard #The Main Book

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prophetandprincess · 4 years

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Tin Man - The Lost Chapter

This is the first part of my multichapter Marvel fic. If you prefer to read on Ao3 here is the link.

Summary: Alexandra is a 22 year old college sophomore studying Biochemistry. Since she moved to the city from a small Midwest town 2 years before she has had a colorful dating history, but all of her exes have taught her skills to survive in the city. However, walking home one night, one of the exes, Markus, decides that Alex’s smart mouth needs to learn a lesson. She is saved by a mysterious stranger who doesn’t have a lot to say and has a metal arm. This act of kindness sets off a series of events that turn her life into something straight out of a movie.

Trigger Warnings: Attempted sexual assault, threatening language, blood, violence Author Note: Sometimes, you are reading through a previous work because you're attempting to get back into the story but have forgotten everything you have written. And sometimes, while you are reading through a work, the page numbers are off, which is VERY aggravating. So, you go where you published the story to see if something accidentally got deleted. You find that it wasn't, but that when you published the story literally years ago, you missed posting a whole ass chapter.So, here is the lost chapter, which takes place between Chapter 5-6. If I have completely lost my mind and this chapter IS somewhere in the story, sorry about the second posting. Things are a little crazy over here these days.

Alex pulled out her phone, mainly to have something to do because she was still shaken up. She had a missed call and a text message from Mr. Malone. She sighed and opened the text. They were putting in a new door when I came in. Left bags inside. Looks like it has been mauled by a bear. What happened? Alex thought about answering, but decided she didn’t have the energy to think up a convincing lie. She texted back a simple thank you and threw the phone back into her purse. “Why are there so many damaged buildings?” James asked as they headed for the subway station. “Left over damage from the Battle of New York. Most areas have been so worried about rebuilding the destroyed buildings that they haven’t taken care of the cosmetic stuff. Brooklyn really didn’t even get the worst of it, not compared to places like Hell’s Kitchen, but Brooklyn’s been slow to deal with the damage.” Alex explained. The Battle had happened the summer before Alex was supposed to move to the city. She had been trying to figure out what to tell her parents about deciding to go to New York University, which had offered her a full ride scholarship. They had all watched in horror as the city was blasted to pieces and a hole opened in the sky. Alex remembered looking for Stark Tower on the news, because if it still stood, then everything else would somehow be okay. If Tony Stark had kept his tower safe than the rest of New York couldn’t be the hell that it looked like. Her heart sank when she saw that the portal was coming from the Tower itself. That’s when she knew New York, the world, would never be the same. After that, she decided she wasn’t going to tell her parents that she was going to New York until a week before she was leaving for freshman orientation. They had been horrified, her mother breaking down into tears and her father spending all night out in the barn. They had called Jake to fly home and talk some sense into her. She had moved up her flight time and left before he ever touched down in the city. “The Battle of New York,” James said the words slowly. “You didn’t know it happened did you?” Alex said as they headed down the steps to the subway. “Are you are missing that part of your memory as well? Or is that when you were overseas?” “I don’t think I was awake for it.” Alex turned, thinking he was being funny, but James’s face was still and serious. Had he been in a coma? What the hell was this guy’s story? The subway train was a lot less crowded and they both got a seat, James hesitated before sitting down next to Alex. Alex made a point to look out the window during the whole trip, her arms burning and her legs shaking. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to tell herself it was just the cold. She tried not to think about the number of times she had been attacked in the last forty-eight hours. She tried to retreat behind her walls of calm and collectedness. She failed. She felt James’s eyes fall on her multiple times, but he made no move to comfort her or speak. When they got off the subway, Alex stopped to buy herself a coffee from a street cart. She didn’t offer to buy James one, it didn’t even cross her mind. He didn’t say anything. Alex unlocked the door to the apartment building and trudged up the flight of stairs, only to be greeted by a new door and a sticky note saying that Jason, the maintenance man, had the new set of keys. Alex knew that she could pick the lock if she needed to, but she didn’t have the energy. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” Alex sighed as she walked down to the basement, where Jason’s apartment was. She knocked loudly on the door, knowing that he probably had his Xbox headset on, and waited for him to get untangled to open the door. “Hey A.J.,” Jason said with a yawn as he opened the door. He was the normal maintenance man in a rundown apartment building, late twenties, single, not exactly known for his hygiene, but extremely pleasant. He was the landlord’s younger brother and while he was pretty good was a hammer and a wrench, Alex got the feeling that he was shoved down here almost to hide him from the rest of the world. “Hey Jason, what are we playing today?” It was forced cheerfulness, but Alex didn’t want another person to ask her what was wrong. She might start crying. “Oh, Destiny. I just got it and it is wicked,” Jason said with a smile. “You want to come in a watch?” “Sorry, I have a test to study for. They said you had my new keys?” “Right, right. That door was annihilated, girl. You need to be more careful with those guys.” Jason said as he reached into the bowl by the door and pulled out a set of keys. “If you ever need help, you can always come down and get me. Or call, you have my number.” “Thanks Jason,” Alex said with a sigh as she took the keys from him. She loved that everyone wanted to keep her safe, but if one more person showed concern she might scream. She was a twenty-two year old woman who could, under most circumstances, take care of herself. The references to her dating history was also starting to get old. They were assholes, that is why she broke up with them. Alex got back up to the fifth floor and everything hurt. She didn’t think she had ever been more tired. James was leaning against the door frame. He’s eyes questioned her, but Alex just unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Son of a bitch,” Alex said as she tripped over the shopping bags from earlier, completely forgetting that Mr. Malone said he had left them right inside the door. Alex felt tears start to well up in her eyes and became even more furious with herself. “Are you alright?” James asked, but Alex just kicked the bag out of the way, slammed her coffee cup down on the counter, and stomped into her bedroom. She slammed the door shut and dropped onto her bed. A few tears leaked out of her eyes, she brushed them away furiously. “Alex?” James voice called through the door. “Just give me a minute, Jesus.” Alex called back, angry that her voice shook. She buried her face in the pillow, and screamed. After she was out of breath, she let herself cry silently for a solid ten minutes. It wasn’t just the fight with James, it was just everything that had happened in the past two days. A lot of it was James’s fault, but if hadn’t been around, she knew she would be dead. Alex finally rolled onto her back and took a few deep breaths. Alex hated crying, she found it completely unhelpful because that time could be used to work toward a solution. However, sometimes you just needed a good cry. It was also supposed to help clear your skin or something else too. But you can’t cry forever. Alex sat up and used a tissue to blow her nose. She then stripped out of her clothes and pulled on a pair of oversized sweatpants and a hoodie. Alex braided her hair and used makeup remover to scrub her wrecked makeup off her face. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before emerging from her room. James jumped off the couch when she entered the living room, worry and guilt written all over his face. Alex took a good deal satisfaction in that look. James didn’t try to say anything, but his blue eyes searched for some sort of answer. She didn’t have one. “I…I cleaned up the coffee. It splattered everywhere,” James explained. “Well at least you’re good for something,” Alex mumbled as she walked into the kitchen. She knew she was being unreasonable, but she didn’t care. She had to channel her emotions somewhere and James was standing right there. “I’m going to make some hot cider, do you want any?” Alex asked as she poured water into the kettle and put it over the flames. “Do you have tea?” James asked. Alex snorted. “Orange or Chamomile?” She asked as she grabbed two mugs from the cabinet. “You don’t just have regular tea?” James asked. Alex just stopped and glared at him for a few seconds. “Orange will be fine,” James said as he took a seat at the table. Alex got out the milk and sugar for James as she waited for the water to heat up. She also pulled a bottle of aspirin out of a drawer and took two, dry. All of her aches and pains were starting to get to her. Finally the kettle started to whistle and she made the drinks. Both were silent as she put the mugs on the table and James fixed his tea the way he wanted it. As Alex waited for him to start she started to become more and more unsure if this was a story she wanted to hear. If she could emotionally handle it right now. However, the longer they sat there sipping their drinks the more restless she became. She really did have a test that she had to study for. Alex knew that her priorities were out of order, but it was the only way to keep herself sane. Plus, she needed to keep that scholarship. “I am not going to tell you specifics,” James finally said setting his tea mug down. “Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t want to put you in more danger.” James folded his hands, the metal flashing in the afternoon light. Alex wanted to protest, but a bit of the truth would be better than no truth at all. She folded her feet underneath herself and wrapped her fingers around her coffee mug. The picture of friendly interest. James picked at a scar on his hand, collecting his thoughts. “I was a solider of the U.S. military, part of a specialized group of fighters.” “Like Black ops?” Alex asked. She knew she shouldn’t interrupt, but just listening had never been her strong suit. “Yeah, I guess. Anyway, we worked on a number of high risk and dangerous missions. On one of these missions I got injured and separated from my team. They thought I was dead, I should be dead, but I survived.” James stopped here. “Is that how you got the metal arm? This accident?” Alex asked. “The bones were basically turned to powder. Considering the fall, my entire body should have looked like that, but I survived.” James flexed the fingers on his metal hand. “Maybe it would have been better if it had turned out the other way.” They both sat for a few seconds thinking about this statement. Alex’s knee-jerk reaction was to comfort James, but she was worried that if she interrupted the story she would never hear all of it. She had also out of emotional energy for the day. “Anyway, I was found, treated, and brought back to good health. My memories, everything, were erased gone. The only thing I knew was what the people who saved me told me. So I worked for them and were until recently when my memories started coming back.” “That’s why you came to New York,” Alex said connecting the dots. James nodded. “I got here and nothing looked familiar. My memory would come and go and I got disorientated. That’s why I was walking around that night I saw you forced into the alley.” James said finishing the story. “I have a question,” Alex said as she finished her cider. “I’m pretty sure you have more than one,” James said with a small smile. “True, but that will take hours,” Alex said with an answering smile. “How did you get back to the states? You said you got injured in the war, that’s a long way from home.” “I was on a mission in the states when my memories started to come back,” James explained. Alex nodded as she digested this information. This wasn’t really anything that Alex hadn’t figured out on her own, but the news about him working for someone other than the military was interesting. Not only that, but it sounded like it was also some sort of mercenary organization. Then a thought popped into her head that chilled her. “The people, who saved you…” Alex picked her next words carefully. “They are not exactly friendly are they?” Not as laid back as she wanted it to sound, but the general meaning was there. “That’s one way of putting it,” James said with a ghost of as laugh before turning serious. “They have a view of the world and how it should be. They don’t like opinions that aren’t in line with theirs and will destroy anyone in their way.” “Terrorists?” Alex’s voice was a lot shakier that she planned it to be. Terrorists and terrorism were buzz words that had almost always been a part of Alex’s life. The life of any kid that grew up in American since 2001. However, talking to someone who might have worked for a terrorist organization terrified her. And here she thought she did have any more terror to expend. “I don’t know if they would classify themselves that way. Hey,” James reached across the table to take her hand, but she flinched despite herself. James pulled his hand back and cleared his throat. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” James said seriously. “Even if it’s you?” Alex asked without looking up at him. “Especially if it’s me,” James said without hesitation. Alex looked up and he met her gaze without flinching. Alex was suddenly filled with such a surge of emotion that she felt the self-control she had been holding onto crumble. She wasn’t sure if it was James’s determination to protect her or the stress of the last couple days, but Alex started to cry. It was just a few tears at first, traitors that escaped from her eyes without thinking. Then they turned into sobs that made her whole body shake. She knocked her mug over as she put her hand to her mouth to try and stifle the sound. Alex closed her eyes and tried to hold onto her runaway emotions. Arms came around her and she leaned against James’s chest. Alex turned her head and sobbed into his shoulder as he held her close. At one point Alex was crying so hard that she felt as if James’s arms were the only thing that was keeping her in one piece. James put his head against hers as she cried, speaking to her softly, though the words were lost in her sobs. Slowly the sobs subsided and Alex got herself under control. She was still almost hyperventilating and nauseous, but the tears finally stopped. She was drained. The warmth and comfort in James’s arm made it so that she didn’t try to move. She just leaned there until hiccups set in. “Well, that was embarrassing,” Alex said shakily as she leaned back. Another hiccup made her jump as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Do you need anything?” James asked as he continued to rub her arm. “Probably a tissue,” Alex said with a sniff. “And I wouldn’t be against a glass of water.” James got up from his kneeling position on the floor and got her the water and a napkin. Alex blew her nose not caring that it sounded like an elephant trumpeting. “Deep breaths,” James said as he resumed his position kneeling next to her chair. He reached up and pushed damp hair out of her face while she concentrated on slowing down her breathing. She took small sips of the water and finally got the hiccups taken care of. “I’m better now,” Alex said both to herself and James. Her head throbbed from how hard she cried and her throat is raw. She went to reach for her mug and realized what was left of her cider was now all over the table and the floor. “I’ll make you some tea,” James said as he got up. He got out a clean mug and filled it was water. It wasn’t lost on Alex that he grabbed the bag of Chamomile and dropped it into the mug. Alex blew her nose again as he brought the mug over. “Drink it slowly,” James advised as he placed the mug in her hand. He then grabbed some paper towels and cleaned up the remnants of her cider. “You don’t need to do that,” Alex said as she sipped the tea. It felt fantastic on her throat and she closed her eyes to enjoy the sensation. James didn’t say anything as he finished cleaning up the spilled cider as well as the two dirty mugs. “What time is it?” Alex asked as James finished playing maid. “Just after three,” he said, wiping his hands on a towel. “Shit, I still have to study.” Alex leaned her head back and sighed at the ceiling. “Chemistry isn’t going to learn itself.” It didn’t matter that it felt as if someone had smacked her in the face with said Chemistry book. She was exhausted and felt as if her body was jelly. “Maybe some rest would be best,” James said as he took the mug from Alex’s hand, worried she was going to drop it. “I have to study,” Alex protested weakly. “The test is tomorrow.” “Are you really going to remember anything that you read in this condition? An hour nap isn’t going to kill you.” James said evenly. The pounding headache was more convincing that James was, but his argument was compelling. “Will you wake me?” She asked. She picked up the mug of tea and took another sip. “I can do that,” James said with a small smile. Alex got to her feet and, while her headache got worse, she could stand. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge before trudging to her bedroom. James walked with her and stood in the doorway as she crawled into bed. “One hours,” Alex said around a yawn. “See you in two hours,” James said. “That’s not-” but he closed the door before she could finish. Alex smiled a little and shook her head. It wasn’t long until she fell into dreamless sleep. Something was brushing against Alex’s cheek and forehead. She turned and rubbed her face against the pillow and snuggled deeper under the blankets. However, whatever was rubbing against his forehead didn’t go away. Alex flicked her hand up to flick the annoying piece of hair out of her face. “God damn it,” Alex grumbled as her hand smacked against metal. “It’s your own fault for not waking up when I called you from the door,” James said with a laugh. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking like he belonged there. Alex rolled onto her back and rubbed her knuckles. “I didn’t hear you,” Alex groaned as she sat up. She felt as if she had been asleep for years, but also that she just closed her eyes. Either way, she did not feel rested. “You were pretty much dead,” James agreed. He reached out and took her hand. After examining her knuckles in an exaggerated fashion, he brought the hand up to his lips. He kissed each one softly in turn. Alex stopped breathing. He might have scared her earlier, she hadn’t forgotten that, but she also hadn’t forgotten all the times he had protected her either. James stopped, his eyes looking up to stare into hers. That’s when her heart stopped. The slight smirk, the feel of his lips just barely on her skin, it woke her up pretty quickly. “You were brushing the hair out of my face,” Alex said softly as the pieces started to fall into place. “I guess I should have used my soft hand. You really can’t help hurting yourself,” James reached out with his other hand and pushed her hair away again. His fingers lingered against her skin, tucking it behind her ear. He was careful of her piercings. Without realizing it Alex had leaned toward him so they were mere inches apart. James slowly lowered her hand and inched forward a little. His lower lip trembled. “You…you have studying to do,” James said as he got up and cleared his throat. His departure was so abrupt that all Alex could do was blink after him as he left the room. Suddenly the room seemed very cold. “What are you doing to yourself, Alexandra?” She said, flopping back on the bed. Restless energy made it impossible for her to go back to sleep. With a growl, she threw off the covers and prowled around her room. She grabbed a brush and yanked it through her hair in such force that it brought tears to her eyes. The act soothed her though, and helped her compose herself. “So what have you been doing for the past two,” Alex looked at the clock, “and a half hours. What, don’t you know how to tell time, Tin Man?” “Someone didn’t wake up when I first called her,” James said from the kitchen. “And I’ve been reading.” “Anything good,” Alex asked, as she moved into the kitchen. “Anthem,” James waved to the book on the kitchen table. He hadn’t turned to look at her since she came out of the bedroom. “Ayn Rand is pretty heavy stuff. Not exactly light reading. I got it for a class,” Alex went back into the living room and grabbed her Chemistry book. She didn’t know what to do now. The chances of her focusing on Chemistry after what just happened in the bedroom was next to none. “If you’re hungry, I made something,” James called from the kitchen. “Like food?” Alex asked as she brought her book with her back into the other room. “No, a bomb.” James said as he put a bowl of steaming soup on the table. There was also a glass of Coke and crackers at her place. “You made soup,” Alex almost started crying again. “The directions are on the can, wasn’t that hard.” James said with a smile. “Now if you had a whole chicken and vegetables, I would have shown you what soup was.” “You cook?” Alex asked as she folded herself into the chair. “You’re just full of surprises.” “This, this isn’t cooking,” James flung the ladle about as he spoke. “Roasted chicken, fried potatoes, carrots, fresh bread and butter. That is cooking and that’s a meal.” Alex felt her mouth water at him describing it. “You could cook all that?” Alex asked and James gave her a look. “Don’t look at me like that. Not many men can cook all that. Though with your strong mothering instinct I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” “When you grow up in a rough spot in Brooklyn with a best friend that decides that he wants to get into back alley fights you develop some mothering instincts.” James countered as he sat across from Alex with his own bowl of soup. “Not a lot of back alley fights back home. Not a lot of alleys period,” Alex said with a small smile. “Though I did get in my fair share of recess brawls. People stopped bothering me after about fifth grade.” “You got a reputation by then?” James asked with a laugh. “Nope, started developing boobs. Suddenly boys didn’t want to fight me and girls had evolved to talking behind my back.” Alex said as she took a sip of her soup. It wasn’t just canned soup, he had spiced it. “I hit a growth spurt about the same time. Girls started noticing me and guys decided they would find other prey. Unfortunately, it was usually Steve.” “Your best friend?” Alex guessed. James nodded. “Me and Jake were inseparable, even as kids. I hung around with mostly his friends, who were mostly male and mostly older. They kept me safe from everyone else. I had two friends I kept most of the way through school. Haven’t talked to them since I left home, though…” Alex hadn’t thought about Georgia and Diana in months. “I get the feeling that you burned a lot of bridges when you came to the city.” “Not burned…more like put up detour signs. Most of the people in my town never left, they lived there all their life. I didn’t want that to be me and suddenly that made me uppity. My father didn’t think his baby girl could handle herself in the big city and my mom just didn’t want an empty nest. I still talk to my parents, but we aren’t as close as we use to be.” Alex shrugged. She tried to act as if it didn’t bother her, and on most days it didn’t, but with everything that had been happening she was a bit homesick. She wanted to talk to her mom. Grace Harper always knew what to do. Then again, she would probably start crying again. “You shouldn’t stay away from home too long. You never know when you might not be able to go back.” James grabbed a cracker and dunked it into his soup. “I’ll head home over break, but until then I have chemistry to study.” Alex was done with the subject of her family. “I always was interested in science, but didn’t really get a chance to explore it. I was into technology, though. I was always reading about the latest Stark invention as a kid.” James said as Alex flipped open her book. “Which Stark?” Alex asked. Howard Stark had died when she was a toddler and Tony took over the company. She had the feeling that James was a few years older than her, so he might remember Howard. “What?” James looked confused by the question. “Howard or Tony?” James still looked confused so Alex dropped it. “I was never really into explosions or fire that was the staple of Stark Industries for so long. The new Arc Reactor was pretty amazing, but I’m more interested in biology based science.” “Is that why you were so interested in my arm?” James asked. “I was interested in your arm because that is some seriously wicked metal work not to mention the mechanics that went into it. I’m more into what goes on in the brain.” Alex explained. She had decided that she was going to major in Biochemistry in high school, but part of her was starting to wonder if Neurobiology was the way to go. Alex decided to get through the chemistry test first before she rethought her whole life plan. “You can finish your food before hitting the books.” James said as he got up and refilled her soup bowl. “It’s called multitasking,” Alex countered as she bit into a cracker. “Well, then I’ll take a page out of your book,” James said as he grabbed the novel and resumed his seat across from her. They sat there eating and pretending to read, but their eyes would stray to the other when they weren’t looking. Instead of seeing the words on the page or the definitions, she kept thinking about his blue eyes. The feeling of his hands against her skin, both of his hands. There was still the lingering pull to reach across the table and grab him. His brow was furrowed and his lips moved ever so slightly as he read. Lips she wanted to sink her teeth into. “I…I need a change of scenery.” Alex said when she couldn’t take it anymore. “Was I bothering you?” James asked as he pushed a piece of hair out of his face. “I’m just not feeling the vibe in here.” Alex lied as she gathered up her materials. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.” After Alex closed the door she leaned against it and sighed. Alex had been in her fair share of relationships and causal hook-ups, but this was the first time she couldn’t control her emotions. It was frightening and exhilarating, but not when you had a test at nine the next morning. Not with a man that might have been part of a terrorist cell or something else equally shady until a few days ago. Alex grabbed her IPod and put in her earbuds. She turned on her study playlist, which consisted of mostly dubstep and house music. As the bass slowly replaced the thoughts of James, Alex started to make notecards to help her study. Four hours and almost a hundred notecards later Alex was feeling a lot more confident about the test. She was also pretty sure her eyes were going to start bleeding. Hitting the pause button on her IPod she got up and stretched. It was definitely time for a snack. “How’s the book coming?” Alex asked as she passed James on the couch. “I’ve read it before, but it is a lot more interesting now.” James said as he marked his placed before closing the cover. Alex pulled a bag of popcorn of the cupboard and stuck it in the microwave. Alex had brought her notecards out with her and flipped through them as she waited for the popcorn to pop. “Not much of a study break if you don’t stop studying,” James said as he padded into the kitchen. He had pulled his hair out of the ponytail it had been in all day, which gave it a slight wave. Alex was pretty sure there were male models that didn’t look as good as he did. Alex jumped when the microwave dinged and dropped the cards that she had in her hands. Swearing under her breath, she turned and popped the microwave door open. She turned to start picking up the cards to see James already kneeling down to collect them. “You don’t need to do that,” Alex said quickly getting down to get the few remaining that James hadn’t picked up. “You need to start letting people do things for you,” James said with a small laugh. Once again the two of them were nose to nose and once again Alex felt a charge between them. Part of her wanted to just reach over and kiss him, the other part knew that he was lost and confused. It wouldn’t be fair for her to complicate things further. If he decided to kiss her, however, all bets were off. “Your popcorn is going to get cold,” James said. It was the same type of dismissal that he had used before, but this time he didn’t move to put distance between them. “I’m not worried,” Alex’s voice was soft. James’s eyes darted to her lips and then back to her eyes. They were questioning, but they were also confused. As much as it killed her, Alex knew that she didn’t want to push him into anything that he would regret. She got to her feet and grabbed the popcorn bag. “Do you want any of this before I go back into my study hole?” She ripped the bag open a bit more furiously than needed. With all this pent up frustration she might need to pull out her little friend with the batteries before she went insane. Then she remembered she hadn’t gotten batteries when they were out. “I’ll take a handful.” James got to his feet and reached into the bag. Alex looked anywhere but him. She didn’t just trust herself not to jump him if they shared another one of those looks. She was only human after all. “You’re good to go,” James said. “Feel free to grab something if you get hungry,” Alex said as she almost ran back to her bedroom. She closed the door and was starting to wonder when she became a hormone monster that in which she had to cage herself. You’d think with her current run in with men she would want nothing to do with them. She put her headphones back in, propped the popcorn against her leg, and turned her thoughts back to studying. It wasn’t that long before she heard a knock on the door. She pulled out her headphones and looked up at James. “I’ve been thinking,” he said from the doorway. “Though I smelled something burning,” Alex said as she flipped over a notecard and looked up. “What’s on your mind?” “I’m going to be leaving tomorrow.” It took a few moments before the words made their way into her brain around all the Chemistry facts. “What, why?’ She asked, putting all her study materials down. “I can’t just stay here until I figure out what to do with myself. That isn’t fair to you,” James explained, but he wouldn’t look her in the eyes. “This isn’t about this afternoon is it?” “No,” James raked his hand through his hair. “Okay, yes it is. But it isn’t just that. It’s not safe for me to be here. I can’t stay any place too long or the people looking for me would find me.” James paced into the room to remove nervous energy. “The people you use to work for?” Alex’s brain was furiously trying to think of a way to make him stay. “Them, and other people…” James continued to pace. “Either way it’s time for me to move on.” “I just don’t understand why now? Did I do something?” Alex was trying to understand. “What? No! That’s not it.” James blew out and stopped moving. “Alexandra…I just…you make me feel things that I haven’t in a while. That scares me because I can’t control it and that makes me unstable. This afternoon was proof of that. I don’t want to do that to you and I can’t do that to myself.” James stopped and looked out her bedroom window. Alex felt as if her heart was about to pound out of her chest, every one of his words both made her happy and terribly scared. “So you are doing this to protect yourself.” Alex couldn’t blame him, but that didn’t mean that she had to like it. It almost scared her how comfortable she had become with him around in just a few days. “It isn’t that I don’t want to stay with you. Actually, it is the exact opposite,” James said slowly, “but the people I worked for are going to come for me. When they do, I don’t want you in the crossfire. I am trying to keep you safe, to keep us both safe.” “But I feel safer when you are here,” Alex didn’t want to whine, but that is exactly what she was doing. James’s blue eyes were sad, but he shook his head. “Sometimes, and sometimes you have to wonder if I’m going to turn on you. Alex,” he said when she opened his mouth to protest, “I can see it. I don’t blame you. If anything, you aren’t nearly as scared of me as you should be. This is not how you should live.” “There’s nothing I can say that will change your mind, is there?” Alex knew by the tone of his voice that he made up his mind. “The fact that you want to makes me worry about your mental state,” James said, giving her a small smirk. She sat there for a few moments, letting it all sink in. Alex felt panic rising in her, but she squelched it. She had no right to keep him here. “Just…just do me a favor. Wait until I get out of class before you leave?” Alex asked clearing her throat. “I have my exam in the morning and then we can get lunch before you head out.” “I can do that. We’ll have lunch together and then I’ll disappear as easily as I appeared.” James said and his voice held a conviction that Alex knew she couldn’t shake. Alex felt her heart constrict, but nodded her head. He was right, it was better that they parted ways before anyone got hurt or got attached. But Alex knew it was already too late for that.

#tin man #My writing #fanfic #james bucky barnes #bucky x oc #Bucky Barnes #marvel #The Lost Chapter

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