#I wrote this while having 4% battery on my phone also so I was doing a rush lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

prorevenge · 4 years

Text

[Long] How we destroyed our teacher and principal:

Apologies in advance if some details are blurry as this happened almost 14 years ago. Also, this is going to be a long one, so bare with me, I swear the result is worth it, at least it is to me.

The beginning: It all started when I (M25) was 12 years old. My grade 7 teacher (M46 at the time) was infamous for being intimidating and, in my opinion, abusive to his students. He was the disciplinarian of the school. He was in charge of keeping track of detentions and announcing who will be sitting every Friday during assembly.

We suspected at that time that the reason why he never got fired was either because his students were too scared to report him, or because of the fact that the principal was his brother-in-law.

Reasons why I hated him: He was constantly making vaguely racist remarks, complaining about the "New South Africa" and constantly bringing up how his life was better during the Apartheid regime (He's a white guy who was raised on a farm).

I always felt like he had an issue with me as a person because I'm a practising Muslim. He would make the class laugh at how "funny" Muslim women looked with their heads "wrapped up". His jokes about Muslims missing out on eating bacon were endless, in fact, he one day purposely stood in front of my desk eating a cheese and bacon panini.

He used to often rant about how the school is no longer a "pure Christian institution as it once was back in the day". He would say these things and glance at either me, my twin sister, or the black students in the class who practiced their own African religions.

When it was his birthday, my mom encouraged me to buy him a gift. I spent of my pocket money, which was already limited (my parents didn't believe in allowances) to buy him a big slab of chocolate and a long piece of Droëwors (dried sausage). Throughout the day, he would get gifts from students in his class and others.

He would get up from his desk to greet and thank them, and then shake their hand. I remember noticing this because I always found it weird when students shook hands with teachers because of how small our hands were compared to theirs.

However, when I gave him my gift, all he did was look at me for like a second, look away and nod his head slightly. I remember being thankful for not offering my hand out for him to shake because I thought he might have ignored it in front of the entire class. To say I felt like shit is an understatement.

The experience that made me hate him the most happened just before we wrote 2nd or 3rd term exams. I was walking with my friend David (fake name) back from the tuck shop during interval. We took a shortcut between the English and Afrikaans kindergarten classes and saw a group of boys huddled together.

One of them walked towards us and I saw that he had one of those camping multi-tools with the folding knife out, and instantly got a fright. He told us "Give me your stuff before I cut your neck" and then started laughing and walked back to his friends. It was clearly a joke but David looked close to tears and I had a very bad fright because of what he done. I told the guy (Fake name Xander) that he's not allowed to have knives at school and that I'm going to tell my teacher.

We walked straight to our teacher and when we spoke to him, David burst into tears.

We told him what happened and David was sobbing when he said he felt like he was going to die. Our teacher barely looked up from his computer while we were speaking and when he asked for the guy's name. We told him the name and he said he will deal with it and for us to go out for interval again.

I went home and told my mom who I felt didn't fully believe me at the time.

The next day we saw Xander were basically making fun of him for getting into trouble with our teacher and likely getting expelled at worst, or sitting a Saturday detention at best. He laughed back at us and said our teacher just came to his class, asked to speak to him and told him to never bring it to school again. No detention. No suspension. Basically nothing. He still had the knife on him for the rest of the day before.

We were so upset we went back to our teacher and I told him that Xander said that he didn't get into trouble for having the knife. He gave me the ugliest look as if I was bothering him, and coldly said to me that maybe I should fix my late-coming problem before I try to get other people in trouble.

I would come late 4 or 5 times a month because my mom's car's battery terminals were broken so the battery would run flat and she couldn't afford to have it fixed. She had to put the neighbour's battery in her car, start it, and then idle it while she took that battery out and put her own battery back in to charge up. My mom taught me the value of always having a number 10 spanner in your car lol.

I felt betrayed by my teacher. The person who was supposed to make us feel safe while we were away from home.

When I spoke to my friends about it, they told me that Xander was actually the principal's son, meaning he was my teacher's nephew. I decided to take the opportunity to speak to my friends about getting evidence that our teacher is treating students unfairly.

3 of my 4 close friends had camera phones. I sat in the far left corner, my one friend sat in the opposite corner by the door, our other friend sat in the middle, and the last friend was right at the back of the class by the window on the left. One thing about our teacher: he did not give a fuck about where we sat as long as we answered him when he done roll call and didn't bother anyone when we swapped seats.

We came to an agreement that whenever our teacher would sound like we was going to say something vaguely racist or islamophobic, we would all discreetly take videos of him.

Any private conversation we had with him was voice recorded on our phones. We caught him on camera telling a really racist joke about black people, and saying that Hindus must have a lot of problems since they have so many Gods. We caught him saying a lot of bad things, but a lot slipped through our fingers because we weren't fast enough.

It was extremely difficult to keep our friend group motivated to record him and not tell anyone else about it. It was especially difficult because at the time I had a hand-me-down Samsung D900 which was seen as an expensive phone at the time.

My mom prohibited me from taking it to school. She instead bought a cheap R79 ($5) phone for us that could only make calls and send SMS's. This was in case she needed to reach us in an emergency. I got caught several times sneaking my camera phone to school. My biggest mess up at school was when my mom phoned me on my Samsung and I answered it. Big oof but I was a dumbass.

After I think a month we decided that we couldn’t let it go any further.. One of our friends was a black guy named Tatenda (fake name). Tatenda was a problem child. His mom died when he was four and his dad was an alcoholic. He was raised mostly by his uncle who up until today I think was a pimp. He used to act out at school because of undiagnosed ADHD, his dad and uncle didn't believe in learning disabilities and always assumed he was just lazy and badly behaved.

Tatenda especially got onto our teachers nerves because not only was he black, but because he would bring broken calculators from home and take them apart during class. One day our teacher told him to clear his desk and throw away the bits of plastic and calculator shit. He ignored the teacher. The teacher then started screaming at him, and Tatenda done the only logical thing an 12/13 year old would do in such a situation: he mockingly put two pencils into his ears.

Our teacher lost his shit, grabbed Tatenda and threw him against the door. The narrow window pane cracked and Tatenda's head was bleeding. He told us he was fine during interval afterwards and we put money together to buy him a Sprite. I almost cried when my friend who sat way behind me said he got the whole thing on camera. We didn't even trust that the whole class' testimony would get him into trouble. We decided that enough was enough.

The revenge: First we showed the video to Tatenda's uncle, who showed it to his father. Then I showed my mom all the other videos and recordings.

She. Lost. Her. Mind.

One of my friends sent all of it to his older sister who had a Facebook account and she posted it there and tagged the school and as many parents as she knew. It blew up. Parents and people from around the province phoned the school demanding answers as to what is going to happen to our teacher. He was immediately suspended.

There were rumours circulating that he had to go into hiding because Tatenda's uncle and his friends were looking to kill him. I even met Tatenda's dad for the first time in the weeks after the whole thing exploded. He liked to joke that his dad sobered up especially for this lol.

The principal pulled Xander out of the school. We never saw him again. My mom told me an investigation was launched against the school because of the improper handling of bullying complaints. If I remember correctly, 3 English kids in my class alone spoke out against teachers dismissing their complaints of bullying by the Afrikaans kids. We were a mostly white, Afrikaans speaking school with 3 Afrikaans classes but only 1 English class per grade.

They called us"souties" which was short for "soutpiel" which literally tranlates as "salty dick". It's a derogatory term for English speaking, white South Africans. It means your one leg in is South Africa, your other leg is in England, so your dick is hanging in the ocean.

We only saw our teacher once after he was suspended. He looked badly beaten up, and was accompanied by a policeman and two other male teachers so he could gather the rest of his stuff from his class.

But it didn't end there.

Because so many kids needed the evidence that they were being bullied and nothing was done because of it, the CCTV footage was brought up. My friend's mother who was part of the school governing body that time, told us a few years ago that when they reviewed the footage, it became apparent that the principal was having an affair with one of the grade 2 teachers.

He could be seen grabbing her ass at the furthest point away from the camera. They slipped up a few times and kissed in clear view of the camera, but I guess once you're surrounded by the cameras everyday at work, you forget that they're there. It was very apparent that sometimes they thought they couldn't be seen.

My mom's friend's sister (basically my aunt) sells Tupperware and one of her regular customers and close friend's is the principal's ex wife. Not only did she leave him, but they were not married in community of property due to a prenup agreement. The house they lived in was in her name since before marriage, so she effectively made him homeless because none of his family wanted to take him in.

He ran into severe debt from staying in guesthouses and burned many bridges from overstaying his welcome at friends. As for my teacher, his reputation was destination fucked. He served jail time, don't know how long, and eventually left the country because it seemed everyone knew his face from the media attention he received.

The reason why I made this post: I was never going to tell this story on Reddit as I've told it over and over through the years since primary school. But I felt I had to because of what I experienced at the beginning of this year.

My family is part of a non profit organisation that has feeding schemes all over the country. The last Friday feed of February I'm standing security as I usually do since we're few volunteers and there's many homeless people and most are on drugs and can get violent.

I'm walking down the line to make sure there are no fights or anything that could start a riot, and I see a familiar face. My old principal is standing in the line, waiting for a bowl of stew and bread, with absolutely no idea who's standing beside him. Obviously he wouldn't have recognised me, but I never forgot his face. I'm not gonna lie, I cried quite a bit behind my sunglasses. Seeing him brought back the feelings I had when I was 12 years old in 7th grade, trying absolutely every excuse in the book to not have to go to school and be bullied by my teacher.

So yeah, for those of you who are still reading, this is the end of how my friends and I destroyed the lives of my teacher and principal.

If you got this far and are feeling depressed, worthless, or less than your peers, I love you. I appreciate you, and you, are seriously fucking awesome. Bye Bye..

(source) story by (/u/Mobi_Wan_Kenobi786)

#prorevenge #by /u/Mobi_Wan_Kenobi786 #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #last10

106 notes · View notes

radiorenjun · 3 years

Text

Rain Rituals || Z.CL

Pairing: Zhong Chenle x Reader

Genre: Comedy, fluff

Summary: Chenle's high school life was more than tedious to say the least. That is when he caught you screaming under the rain.

Warning: fluff. Comedy. Mentions of detention. Second hand embarrassment. Cliché

Wordcount: 2.8K (it's short)

A/n: please ignore my terrible editing skills and happy birthday Chenle!

Chenle was just a simple rich high school boy who, like any other student, just wants to get school and exams over with as soon as possible. He was bored of waking up everyday only for the same exact thing to happen over and over again.

Wake up. Eat. Go to school. Endure hell for 6 hours straight. Go home. Eat. Study. Sleep.

Repeat.

It was boring to say the least. Chenle wanted something to spice up his life, anything to make life more worth living. He wasn’t one to pay attention to whatever’s happening around him, he just wasn’t interested. But one faithful day, a chaotic social hazard of a Chemistry classmate of his decided to change that. Well, technically, the situation was unexpected and absolutely ludicrous for the young boy’s mind to comprehend.

It was a cold, raining evening. Chenle was just getting out of basketball practice, sweat trickling down his forehead as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. Chenle was just on his way to the parking lot, fumbling with the car keys in his hand, his uniform blazer draped over his head to prevent him from getting even more wet than he already is.

A loud scream pierced the quiet atmosphere, causing Chenle to flinch at the sudden sound. His head rapidly turned to see where the scream had come from before his eyes squinted at a blurry figure standing in the middle of the school garden.

‘What the fuck?’

Curiosity kills the cat, as they say.

Chenle went closer to the figure who let out another alarming scream, his brows furrowed in confusion as the figure became clearer and clearer with every step. The soles of his new Air Jordan’s making soft sounds as they made contact with the puddles that formed on the ground.

He leaned his head to the side when he was close enough to see the figure clearly. His eyes widened to see none other than you, the class clown of his grade. Also known as ‘That Girl Beside Me Who Wrote Three Pages Worth Of A Test Answer To Spite The Teacher’.

You were quite infamous for your extroverted demeanor. Making friends and cracking jokes left and right as if it was as simple as breathing air. Joking around and riling up teachers as if they were your closest friends.

To Chenle, you were quite peculiar.

But the sight before him was more than odd. You were standing soaking wet in the rain with your arms stretched out, your hair sticking to your forehead as you leaned your head up as if you were doing some kind of satanic ritual or religious sacrifice.

You let out another scream before groaning in frustration. “Jesus Christ!” you cursed out, kicking a puddle with your shoes as if it would do anything to make your frustrations go away.

Chenle just stood awkwardly not far behind you as he watched you throw a mini tantrum for whatever reason, his pupils dilating in concern with a frown on his lips. ‘This is just sad and embarrassing,’ he thought with a shake of his head.

The second hand embarrassment Chenle felt as he watched you push your wet hair back, letting the raindrops hit your face was almost as extravagant as the time when he watched his seniors attempt to flirt with one of his classmates.

A part of him wanted to just leave before someone (or you) catches him staring at you with a look of disappointment and sympathy. But another part of him was interested to see what you were whining on about in the middle of a heavy rain at 4:57 PM in the evening when you could be doing all this nonsense in the comforts of your own home like a normal person.

“God dammit!” you cursed once again. “Why the fuck am I single!?”

Chenle’s frown deepened when he heard those words exit your mouth. ‘Seriously?’ he thought with a click of his tongue, ‘she’s screaming out here like a lunatic all because she’s single?’

“Come on! Being single is a choice, right? I didn’t choose to be the only single one in all of my friend groups, so why the fuck am I single?” You rambled, letting out a loud groan afterwards. Chenle shook his head in disappointment, he wanted to walk away instead of looking at whatever you were doing. But yet again, he was far too entertained to even look away.

“Oh God.” you clasped your hands together, intertwining your fingers and shutting your eyes tighty. “ If you can hear me up there. If you can hear me screaming my lungs out like a lunatic. Please, oh please, give me a fucking boyfriend! I think I deserved that much for being good for all my life, right?” You paused at the last part, opening an eye as if to rethink your words before you shut them tight again. “Well for the most part of it, anyways!” you added.

Chenle couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, his arms crossing as he let out a soft laugh. ‘This is just getting really sad, I almost feel bad for her.’ he thought before looking down at his Apple Watch, eyes widened at what time it was. He turned to make a run to his car, pulling out his car keys to unlock it.

As Chenle dried himself off with the spare towel he usually keeps in the compartment box of his car, he made a mental note to himself to bring this up to you the next time he sees you. He’s sure that your reaction to him having blackmail is just going to be absolutely satisfying.

You were sitting in your desk, listening to your friend ramble about the things she did with her significant other after school the other day. A small sad smile forming on your lips as you try to listen to her conversation without feeling too sad about your pathetic, almost nonexistent, love life.

But yet again, it’s been a couple of days since you threw a tantrum at the school garden. Cursing at the sky and rain to give you a boyfriend. Only for the principal to come up to you to tell you to go home and get some rest, her expression filled with worry and concern. She probably thought you had your screws loose. And honestly, you couldn’t blame her.

You screamed till the boys at the basketball team had already gone home, your parents scolding you for being out so late in the rain. You spent two days in bed with a fever, worrying if anyone saw you acting like a delusional maniac for two hours straight. But you were relieved to see that it’s been a while since your little outburst and nobody had brought up the topic of you screaming and yelling in the middle of the rain.

Not even the janitors.

That is until you had your Chemistry class.

Your desk mate, who was none other than the infamous Chinese rich boy, Chenle came up to you with a grin spread across his face. You had never spoken to Chenle before, mostly because he was quite cute and you didn’t know what to say to someone so adorable and quiet.

You were just minding your own business, jotting down notes that your friend lent you because you couldn’t make it to school last class because of said fever. “Hey,” Chenle greeted, nodding at you as he placed his bag on his chair. You look up in surprise, eyes widening slightly at the fact that Chenle was actually talking to you and starting a conversation with you.

“Hi?” your throat was dry as your mind went blank, trying to use your extrovert powers to desperately try to come up with something to keep the conversation going. “What’s up?” you added, looking down at your notebook as you continued jotting down notes. Chenle sat on his chair, staring at you with a suspicious smirk spread across his lips.

“Can I ask you something?”

You hummed a small ‘yes’ under your breath, eyes scanning your notes.

“You have to answer it truthfully, though.”

You replied with another small hum, nodding slightly.

“Were you that girl screaming like a lunatic in the middle of the rain the other day?” he asked with a casual hum. His words made your hand stop writing, your eyes going wide as you felt your heart almost stop beating. ‘Shit. Oh god. Oh Dear God, no. You can’t do this to me,’ you thought with a nervous bite of your lip.

You attempted to shrug it off casually, keeping an emotionless expression as you continued writing on your notebook. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you responded, feeling your heartbeat nervously against your chest. Chenle’s smirk widened at the way you gulped nervously and avoided eye contact when he brought it up.

“You sure? I’m pretty sure I saw you kicking and stomping puddles the other day, cursing and what-not,” Chenle taunted, watching as your hand weakened their grip on your pen. You cleared your throat, “again, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really? You sure you weren’t the girl who screamed ‘Dear God, give me a damn boyfriend already?!’ in the middle of the school garden like some kind of deranged maniac?”

“You saw that?!” you gasped, your head shooting up to glare at him with wide eyes. You then cupped your mouth when you realised you accidentally gave yourself away. Chenle let out a laugh, pointing a finger at your reaction. “Called it! So you were the girl doing a satanic ritual the other day!” he exclaimed, an amused smile playing at his lips.

You frowned, rolling your eyes as you looked back down at your paper. “Shut up, Zhong Chenle,” you grumbled with a small pout on your lips. “Come on, Y/n. What the hell happened to make you go all bat-shit crazy like that? I mean, not gonna lie it was quite amusing, you should definitely do it again,” he chuckled, leaning his chin against his hand, his elbow propped up on his desk.

You gave an exasperated sigh, looking up at him with a tired expression. “God I wished I took a video of it. Sadly, my phone ran out of battery at that time,” he added with an innocent smile. “You done? I get it, I publicly embarrassed myself. Is there anything you would like to add to that?” Your lips twitched in annoyance when Chenle took a moment to actually think of an answer.

“Give me a minute,” he hummed.

“That was a rhetorical question,” you frowned.

“I publicly embarrass myself on a daily basis, Chenle. What do you want from me?” you let out a soft chuckle, shaking your head at the boy. “Threatening to spread the information isn’t going to embarrass me that much. I’ve done worse things,” you added, finishing the last few words of your notes.

“No shit, you walked into the boys bathroom to hide from some guy.” Chenle exclaimed with a laugh. “Survival is a reasonable explanation. I still wanted to live, you know! I’ll have you know I only got two weeks of detention for it,” you closed your notebook with a huff, getting up from your seat.

“And was your little tantrum under the rain another part of your survival instincts?” Chenle provoked, causing you to clench your teeth. “I don’t think doing a religious sacrifice on a rainy school day can be called survival, Y/n. Especially whining about how single you are,” he snorted against his palm.

You flushed in embarrassment, turning your body away as you grabbed the notes you borrowed from your classmate. “Shut up. I should’ve performed a demonic ritual to wipe you off of the face of the earth instead,” you spat back, walking away from your shared desk to head on over to your classmate’s.

“It still won’t get you a boyfriend, though.” Was the last words Chenle said to you before you walked away.

It was safe to say you had to apologize to your friend for crumpling their notes.

“I still can’t believe screaming like a lunatic under the rain actually works,” you shuddered, sipping your hot cocoa with a traumatized expression. It’s been almost a year since then. You graduated high school, now you’re in your first year of college.

It was honestly a surprising journey but a couple months after your little tantrum, you manage to find yourself an actual boyfriend, who you now share a flat with. It’s all just ironic really, you screaming under the rain like a deranged psycho was supposed to be something to laugh at in the near future.

But now, the story became even more laughable when the world decided to drop your boyfriend right in front of you not too soon afterwards. Even though you didn’t get along very well at first, it was still pretty worth it, if you say so.

“You still can’t believe what, babe?” you heard your boyfriend call out from the kitchen, the sound of his spoon stirring inside one of your ceramic mugs hitting the air. You let out a soft laugh, shaking your head as you scrolled through your old picture file on your laptop. Pictures you and your friends took before you all graduated high school to capture your last moments with each other.

“Remember the day I screamed and cursed at the sky because I was tired of being single?” you laughed, remembering the moment as if it happened only yesterday. There was a small pause before a loud dolphin-like laugh pierced your ears. “Oh my god, that was so iconic!” he exclaimed, tapping the spoon against the edge of the mug.

“Right? God it was so embarrassing! I finally stopped when I realised the principal was going home. Damn, thank god I didn’t get detention,” you joked, opening a picture of you and your boyfriend laughing and smiling under the heavy rain. “I’m still pissed off that I didn’t record it, it could’ve pinpoint the day I decided to talk to you,” Chenle chuckled, coming out of the kitchen with a mug of his own.

“Shut up, I know for a fact you’re never going to let it go if you actually did record it,” you stuck your tongue out teasingly, scooting over to the edge of the couch to make room for him to sit. “Indeed, it could’ve gone viral, you know. I could post it on Tik Tok or Youtube with the caption ‘Girl Screams At How Single She Is Not Knowing That Her Future Boyfriend Is Standing Right Behind Her, Recording Her For Epic Black Mail!’” Chenle grinned, emphasizing his words with his hand.

You rolled your eyes. “Shut up, I hate you,” you huffed, pushing the laptop closer to the two of you so he could see. “What are you looking at by the way?” he asked, leaning over to see your screen clearly as he sipped his beverage. “Old photos from high school, you were way more annoying then,” you commented, giggling.

“I’m not annoying now?” he raised his brow at you, making you grin. “You still are, don’t worry. Just slightly less than back when we started dating,” you pinched his cheek gingerly causing him to chuckle. “That means I’m not doing my job as a good boyfriend,” he pouted, pressing a kiss to your cheek.

“Chenle, no.” You shook your head at him.

“Chenle, yes.” He nodded with a cheeky grin.

“I’m breaking up with you,” you deadpanned, turning away from him to continue scrolling. “Sure you would,” he said sarcastically, wrapping an arm around you lovingly. “You love me too much to even think about breaking up,” he said, grabbing your cheeks in both of his palms, turning your head to make you look at him. He pressed your cheeks together, making your lips pucker up for him to press a loving kiss against them.

“Remind me why I like you so much?” you mumbled against his lips before he pulled away. He hummed, thinking it over for a moment. “I’m just too damn amazing. Plus, a clown like yourself deserves someone to over-clown you,” he giggled. “I prefer the term ‘rival’ because over-clowning isn’t a thing but go off, I guess.” you let out a soft laugh, nuzzling your nose against his.

“Maybe you should do what I did and start screaming at the rain to make us rich,” you suggested.

“Y/n, no. You’re not funny.”

#NCT-WRITERS #neowritingsnet #neo-constellations #nct x reader #chenle x reader #zhong chenle scenarios #chenle scenarios #zhong chenle x reader #nct dream x reader #nct dream scenarios #nct u x reader #nct 127 x reader

58 notes · View notes

ka-za-ri · 4 years

Text

Descent Pt. 2

Masterlist of other Chapters: Here Crossposted to Ao3: here

Part [1] Part [2] Part [3] Part 4: [4] Part [5] Part [6] Part [7] Part [8] Part [9] Part [10]

I’m so glad y’all are enjoying the food so far, please take some more of it. Let me know if you want to be added to a taglist or anything like that. For now, let’s enjoy our favorite angel doing ... not very angelic things (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Pairing: Simeon x Reader Wordcount: 5,000 ish Genre: Luxurious Smut Tags: Voyeurism, mutual masturbation Summary: With the first chapter behind him, there's still something missing in Simeon's writing, and he needs your help to figure out what it is.

Stumble

True to his word, Simeon had the draft he promised in your email inbox within a few days. You were surprised. He seemed to be struggling so much when you last saw him, you really expected him to take a little more time. Regardless, it was to your benefit since it meant you had more time to edit.

Even if it was just the first chapter and a little bit after, you were surprised at the speed in which he jumped to the lewd scenes. It wasn’t surprising considering sex was the focus, but you would need to teach him how to reign in his enthusiasm. By the time you were finished reading through the draft the first time, your whole face had gone hot. The explicit details he wrote out only brought your mind back to what you had acted out in that sunroom just a few days ago. It was a direct translation of your actions to text. Sure, Simeon was new to the genre, but his talent as a writer still shone through.

Despite the roughness of the draft, the publisher approved it as acceptable proof of progress. They greenlit the whole project and you were more than excited to email Simeon and let him know the good news. Just as you had come back from the meeting with the executives, your phone chirped with a new message.

[SMS: I AM STUCK. I CANNOT WRITE ANYMORE. HELP ME.]

You laughed at how short and crude the message was. For someone who spent most of his time on a computer writing; he was absolutely hopeless with any other form of technology. Shaking your head at how someone like him had gotten so far in life barely knowing how to send a text, you packed up your things and made your way to his place. You did have a few notes about his first chapter to give him, anyway.

Simeon hated being deceptive. He hated how quickly he had started to rely on that image of you in his brightly lit sunroom to fuel his writing and for his own desires. He was ashamed to ask you to come over again; but he was repeating the same motions in his writing, he needed new visuals and you were the only one he could trust. In reality, his request was a thinly veiled request to see you perform again. He was able to complete his work so quickly after watching you. Researching video clips and online articles gave him some fuel, but nothing got him so fired up as watching a scene unfold from you.

It was a strange obsession he was still wrapping his mind around. He had to be careful, the temptation you possessed was absolutely dangerous. Simeon had to reassure himself that he was ancient and knew his way around humans with how long he had studied them. He needed to convince himself that he would never sully a human body, no matter how much he wanted you. His title, status and reputation as an angel were the most sacred parts of him. With so many years of writing experience, surely he could write a proper sex scene without actually ever having to fuck you.

It didn’t stop him from being nervous. No matter how many fail safes he came up with, he knew that you were effortlessly enticing him to be joined with you. He had to be vigilant. It would be the ultimate test of his will and his determination. Both for his career and his soul. He would see it through, he knew he could. No material experience could be more important than his angelic status. Right?

He paced back and forth in the foyer of his home, gnawing on his nail while he waited for you to arrive. It had taken him half an hour to find the right words to text you. Simeon glanced at the phone in his hand almost every ten seconds, hoping you had replied. He knew you had a meeting, but it should be over by now and you should be arriving at any moment. You hadn’t answered him which made him antsy. Usually you would have at least told him you were coming over. He could only hope that you were just eager to see him as he was to see you again.

He didn’t want to admit how he had fallen asleep with his hands down his pants the past three days, dreaming about your sweet voice as you came and called out to him. He didn’t want to think about how many positions he had imagined you being in. Simeon didn’t want to dwell on how many scenarios he came up with just to have you reenact them for him. Some of the scenes delved so deep into his darkest desires that he was scared to even admit he thought about them.

But he wanted to see them play out.

The doorbell barely finished ringing and he was already flinging opening the door to let you in. “I’m guessing the meeting went well.” He said with a bright smile to hide his nerves. He was already set up in his sunroom. During the time you were gone, he had brought a small folding desk to the recliner. The cable for his computer had also been moved so he didn’t have to worry about the battery being drained. You instinctively went over to the couch lined up against the wall but he stopped you. Instead of letting you lounge like you did the last time, he offered you a chair across from his makeshift desk instead. He refused to make eye contact as you made yourself comfortable.

“The meeting went as well as it could,” you said while taking out the envelopes that contained his work. “They like everything so far, but it’s still rough and needs a little bit more refinement, and I have to agree with them.”

You glanced up at him and noticed him fidgeting with his fingers while he kept his face calm. “So, what needs to be fixed up?”

You flipped through a few pages and showed him the paragraphs of smut he had written. The color drained from his face as he was face-to-face with the obscenity of his work in physical form. “So, it’s not bad. But I can tell it was your first time. There’s something missing about the partner. I can’t place it, but it just feels… flat? Like I can’t tell if they’re feeling anything from the exchange or what.”

“Ah… Oh… Hahaha. I see… That explains a lot.”

You raised a curious eyebrow at his comment. “Does it?” You crossed your arms over your chest and leaned back in the chair. It seemed as though Simeon was just at the verge of another great discovery about his writing and you were rather intrigued about what his thoughts were.

“Yes. I was struggling to write this next scene and I just… couldn’t figure out how to convey the partner’s feelings. It’s frustrating. I should have all the resources that I need to make it work.” He gestured at what he had written and bade you to take a look.

It was always fun to see his work in progress. With the partially polished scenes and unfinished sentences, it was like you got to see the inner workings of his brain. What he had in front of you was a far cry from the more polished work you were used to, but the overall flow of action was much better than the travesty you had seen last time. However, you could see the exact point where he started to struggle. As he said, there was a lack of feeling behind the words.

“Ooh… So this is the part where you need my help again, huh?”

Simeon covered his face with his hand. “I’m ashamed to ask you to assist me with another scene.”

You smiled softly, reaching over and ruffling his hair. “Well, I’d be the world’s worst editor and manager if I refused to help you, right?”

“You don’t have to…”

“But I want to.” You reassured him, while getting up from your seat to start stripping. Truth be told, you were waiting for the next time you got to see him so hot and bothered while working. Something about how focused he was on writing and not what his body needed made you want to push him further, see just what it took to get him distracted. “But you know… I’m sure you’d get more out of it if you experienced it too. Sometimes, just watching isn’t enough.”

Simeon felt his heart drop to his stomach from your suggestion. You were putting into words all of his desires and what he had craved ever since the last time. If he didn't have his wits about him, he knew he would have taken you up on the offer. The temptation of knowing how it felt to be in you while you moaned had piqued his curiosity and he longed to experience it. “I… Uh,” he stuttered, trying to wrap his mind around how to reply.

You dragged your finger up his thigh, pausing right at his crotch and waited for his reaction. He was so cute with his eyes wide, lips slightly parted and his brain short circuiting from your advances. You wanted to devour him and see him crumble under your fingers. “You what?” You encouraged, moving the focus from his crotch upwards, your finger skirting the soft sweater he wore and up to his chin. You tilted his head upwards to meet you eye to eye. “You want to write the best novel… don’t you?”

“I do…” He breathed, unable to take his eyes away from you and his mind struggled to keep up with how quickly you had taken control of the situation. He needed to wrestle some semblance of calm back in his favor if he wanted to continue getting what he wanted without you suspecting his obsession. “In order for me to do that, I need you to show me how…” He trailed off, cheeks flushed warm from thinking about his lewd request.

“How what? Come on now, you asked me to fuck a pillow last time, how is this going to be any worse than that?” you teased. Much to your delight, he became more flustered, his gaze dropping to the floor and he mumbled to himself. You let him get over his shyness, waiting patiently with his chin balanced at the tip of your finger.

Please uhm… Please show me how you please yourself… for this next scene.” He managed to save himself from falling completely into your trap, specifying exactly what he needed you to do. You were so alluring and so close to him, he had almost asked for the unforgivable.

You smiled, letting go of his chin and stepping back. “It’d be so much easier if I had some toys to do that… but I guess I’ll show you since you asked so nicely.” You planted a kiss on his forehead before undoing the buttons of your blouse.

“T-toys?” Simeon squeaked. He had seen them in video clips and read about them in reviews when he researched; but it never occurred to him that you might want to use them.

“It’s okay if you don’t have any. I can always settle with this…” You teased, walking over to him and fondling his crotch. “In fact, I would prefer this over anything else.”

You were close enough to see his pupils dilate and notice how his breath hitched as you touched him. He pulled away from you, hiding behind his screen and pretended to be busy with opening a new document. “I… I need to write.”

“But that’s the problem…” you whined, pouting that he pulled away but you didn’t press the issue any further. Watching him squirm was so satisfying; and you hadn’t even done anything yet. “You were writing the last time and you had the same problem, so stop writing this time and get into it.” You suggested.

“I can’t.” he shook his head vehemently. “I can’t do it. No.”

You sighed, putting your hands on your hips and looked at him. You never pegged him to be the kind of guy who waited until marriage to be intimate, but it seemed like he was alluding to the fact that he was saving himself. If he wasn’t, he was at least being very reserved for the type of content he was writing. “Fine, we don’t have to do it,” you conceded before going back to stripping yourself bare. “But feel free to help yourself to whatever you need for inspiration.” You winked, looking down at his crotch and he hastily crossed his legs when your gaze lingered.

He was so cute. You couldn’t tell if he knew exactly what he was doing. It was hard to expect someone so beautiful and of his age to not get intimate when the chance arose. Part of you wondered if it was because you weren’t desirable to him outside of your little acts. Dwelling on that thought made your chest hurt in bitterness and you shoved that to the side to focus on helping him instead.

You flopped back down on the chair, spreading your legs and resting them on the arms of the chair so that Simeon had a clear view of what you were about to do to yourself. Having him watch everything you did so close to you aroused much faster than you expected. “Well, time to get to work.” you said nonchalantly.

You closed your eyes, imagining Simeon joining you in getting nude. You imagined what it would be like for him to reveal his skin a little at a time in a playful strip tease. He always wore such bulky and cozy looking sweaters, it made you wonder just what kind of body he was hiding underneath all the layers. You started at your breasts again, squeezing them together and playing with them to aid in the fantasy.

In front of you, Simeon was typing up a storm. In your mind, it was his hands at your breasts, playing with your nipples until they were perky. You thought about him latching his soft lips around your nipple, licking at the sensitive skin there until you squirmed and moaned his name. You were careful this time to make sure you didn’t accidentally call for him when you really got into it. You weren’t in a rush to experience that embarrassment a second time.

He could see your folds progressively get wetter as you touched yourself and wrapped yourself in a fantasy he had no access to. Recalling the last time, Simeon wondered if he was occupying your mind again. This time, he was much more aware of his body’s reactions to the scene in front of him. There was no way he could ignore the pressure growing in his pants. No matter how much he focused on the document in front of him, he could feel his desires bubbling and threatening to spill over.

It was different this time. You were sprawled out in front of him, moaning softly and panting. Your head rested on the back of the chair. With your eyes closed and your mouth open slightly in an “O” you looked absolutely angelic. He wanted to join you, his fingers stopped typing and he was once again frozen, watching the performance in front of him.

You noticed he stopped typing much sooner than the last time and smirked a bit, cracking open your eyes to see his precious face staring at you in wonder. “Like what you see?” You asked coyly, sliding one hand down from your breast to your pussy. You spread yourself wide so he could see exactly just how wet you were.

Simeon only nodded, entranced with the way your folds glistened and he could smell your arousal from where he sat. He licked his lips holding onto his fraying desires as best as he could. Control yourself. You can do this. “Y-yes…” His voice came out thickly, as if his vocal chords refused to work properly.

You giggled, loving how riled up you were getting him and slowly rubbed your slick slit with your fingers. You moaned, the pleasure your fingers gave you was much better than riding a pillow. With just a quick glance, you noticed he had uncrossed his legs and was sporting a rather impressive tent in his pants. “Well, I’m glad that you’re not bored.” you teased much to his dismay.

His hands flew to his crotch, covering himself and he tried to will his boner back down to no avail. You giggled again, pulling his attention away from his arousal. “It’s okay, I would have been disappointed if you didn’t get turned on by what you’re seeing.”

“I uhm…”

“It’s okay.” You reassured him again. “Feel free to join in however you want. It only makes it all the more fun.”

Simeon gulped, torn between work and pleasure. He put himself in this predicament, he needed to figure a way out of it. He needed relief and he needed to write. The two sides of him warred as he scrambled with his fizzling brain to figure out something. An epiphany dawned on him when he heard his phone go off.

“Spam?” you asked when he fumbled with the incoming call, trying to silence the ringtone. “Or were you expecting someone?”

“Ah.. uhm… spam. I think.” He confirmed once he managed to figure out to disregard the call without picking it up. The next thing he needed to figure out was how to get the camera working and recording. You wanted to help him, but with one hand covered in fluids, you weren’t sure if he wanted you touching his phone.

Eventually with a little vocal coaching on your end and a lot of fumbling on his side, he got it to work and propped the phone up to start recording what you were doing. If he was going to get relief now, he needed to at least have proper reference to go back to later.

“Wow… you are so much kinkier than I thought.” You joked, causing Simeon to cover his face in shame, but he didn’t try to argue. There was something about having everything recorded for later that only added to the sexual tension in the room.

“It’s for research…” He mumbled more to convince himself than to explain to you what he was doing.

“Right… research.”

He moved his hands to mirror your own. One at his crotch and the other at his chest. It was difficult to hide your disappointment when you saw he wasn’t about to expose himself. His hand slipped under his clothes to touch and tease at his skin. You could see the barest hint of his abs peeking out from underneath the oversized sweater and you practically drooled at just the little bit of skin he showed off. You couldn’t help a small pout, frustrated at how unfair it was that you were putting in so much work for him and he could just so cutely masturbate alongside you.

The frustration disappeared the moment you saw his eyelids flutter clothes and he let out a soft moan. It was the most beautiful sound in the world and it was infinitely better than anything you could have imagined. His blue eyes lidded with pleasure were only opened to a sliver as he urged you to continue what you were doing.

With the camera rolling and the very vision of sin in front of you, you were more than eager to get back to getting off. Your finger found your clit and you rubbed it in the way that always made you see stars. “Hmmm, oh yeah…” You groaned, flicking your finger side to side before circling the little bundle of nerves. You were undoubtedly going to ruin his furniture again, but you didn’t care.

Simeon watched the way your fingers moved and he mimicked everything you did. His hand under his shirt pinched and rolled his nipple between his fingers. The sensation made him hiss from the initial pain but that was quickly replaced by pleasure which sent jolts of bliss straight to his aching cock. He bit his lip, repeating the motion, drowning himself in the sensation over and over again.

The scent of your essence was thick in the air. It felt like you were surrounding him with every breath he took. You were invading his every thought and infecting everything he thought was pure. But the freedom you gave him and the gratification that came with it was intoxicating. He couldn’t get enough of your breathy moans and the wet sounds of your fingers toying with yourself.

His own hand in his pants pumped his cock in time with the motion of your fingers. At one point you had done the most lascivious thing and slipped a finger inside of you. His eyes widened as the digit disappeared and reappeared covered in your slick. His cock twitched in his hand in jealousy. He wanted to be buried in there, he wanted to feel your heat surround him. But all he had was his hand to satisfy him.

Simeon was heavily panting now, working up to a frantic pace in his pants as his hand stroked his length. It was cramped and uncomfortable; but he couldn’t bear to expose himself to you. Surely that would be too much for you to see; and he wasn’t sure if he could control himself if he stripped alongside you.

“Mmm, I’m getting close.” you groaned, rolling your hips to meet your fingers and you teased your clit further, feeling your body tense in preparation for your climax. “What about you?”

“I… Uh.. I’m…” Simeon, stuttered, not able to process how close he was. It was so different from all the times he relieved himself alone. He just had to keep going until he was done. But with you in front of him, he wanted to do it together with you. Seeing your soaked pussy right in front of him made him more excited than he ever had been. “I think I’m close…”

You laughed at his naivety. “You think?” You teased. Perhaps you needed to up the ante a bit. “Come on… come with me.” You beckoned and pressed two fingers into your tight hole.

He blinked rapidly, trying to comprehend what his hormones were doing. Seeing your fingers being engulfed by your pussy, sliding in and out slowly while you moaned right next to him was pressing all the right buttons in him. He could see you stretch to accommodate your fingers and he was entranced by that. Without warning, he gasped, his grip on his cock tightened as he came. “Oh … I’m… I’m sorry…” He panted. “You just… that was… Uhm..”

“Too hot for you to handle?” You asked, now working yourself faster. The face he made when he came all of a sudden was so hot. You would definitely think back on it during lonely nights. Simeon’s breathy moans, the way his skin glowed with a thin sheen of sweat from exertion. It all added up to be a breathtaking image.

“I...Yeah…” You could see the faintest hint of red on his cheeks and smirked, satisfied that he was enjoyed himself just as much as you were loving every moment you were in front of him.

“Good… I guess it’s my turn then.” You said and went right into the motions of getting yourself to climax. Locking the image of Simeon’s “O” face in your mind, you finger fucked yourself closer and closer to completion.

You could feel your inner walls tighten and you were just at the edge of no return when you felt Simeon’s firm hand pull your fingers away. Whining loudly and glaring at him, you were about to berate him for ruining your good time until your entrance was filled with his own slender fingers. “Let me help you…” He said, his bright blue eyes were lit with a determination you hadn’t seen before and the fire behind them was such a turn on.

For someone who had just been so bashful about being intimate with you at the beginning, Simeon sure was being bold now. You didn’t say anything, not like you really could. Your capacity to form coherent words disappeared when his slender fingers entered you and mimicked the motions you had shown him. He was a fast learner, able to have you shivering with little to no effort. It was hard to believe just how he had a sudden switch in personality, but it was beside you to figure it out now.

You were free to call his name. After all, he was the one touching you now. “Oh… Simeon.” you moaned, panting and once again ramping towards your climax. This time, he was in control of the pace and the intensity of what got you off. He curled his fingers in you and you cried out loud when he brushed past a sensitive spot in you. He was so gentle and so precise, it was mind blowing what he picked up just from watching you.

“You’re close… right?” He asked sweetly. You looked at him and the intensity in his eyes was only made more obvious against his dark skin. The tone of his voice was in direct contrast to the laser focus his gaze had on your most intimate parts. Just the dichotomy of that alone inched you dangerously close to your climax.

Then, his thumb pressed against your clit and your world exploded. It was just the last bit of stimulation you needed to go over the edge. You clutched onto the arms of the chair while you rode out the high on his fingers. A mixture of curses and his name fell from your lips as you breathlessly tried to ground yourself. Your inner walls clenched around his digits and Simeon continued to slowly slide them in and out of you, marveling at the sensation of your pussy milking his fingers.

You kept seeing stars at the edge of your vision with every extra pass he took. You wanted to tell him to stop, but he was too engrossed in his ‘research’ to really pay any of your protests any mind. Eventually, he pulled his fingers out of you and you sighed in both relief and disappointment.

Simeon looked at his glistening fingers, holding them to the light and observed the slick essence that coated them. It was almost a little embarrassing to watch him be so intrigued by your fluids that you needed to distract yourself by getting dressed again so you didn’t have to look at him. While you had your back turned, Simeon experimentally licked his coated fingers and by the time you were fully clothed, he had fully cleaned them off. He looked at you and licked his lips. “Research.” He said nonchalantly with a shrug.

“Right… research.” you said, already getting hot and bothered again at what you had just witnessed. This man will be the end of me. “Do you think you’ve gotten all you need for your next scene?”

“Hmm….” He nodded sagely, remembering to stop recording. “I’ll have to review everything, but I think I know where to go from here.”

You smiled good naturedly and pat his head gently. “Don’t overwork yourself.” you said gathering your things. Once again, it had gotten late and you had to regretfully leave to ensure you caught the last trains home. “Call me or text me if you need help again, okay?”

“Oh, of course. I plan on it.” He smiled at you and your heart melted a little, but there was a devilish nature to that smile that had never been there before. “I’ll finish the next chapter probably in a week and send it to you.”

“I can’t wait to see what you come up with. I’m sure it’ll be great, as usual.” You grinned, feeling giddy after such a great climax as well as knowing that Simeon was able to continue working. It would definitely be good news to report back to the publishing house and keep them off his back as he worked in peace.

He let out a soft laugh, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. It was a shame that he was already back to his usual innocent self. You wouldn’t have minded seeing more of that sex god who showed himself a few moments before. “Well, I’ll do my best to not disappoint. I have a lot to learn.”

“I’ll be sure to help you in any way I can.” You said. Looking down at your phone, you gasped noticing the time. “Shit. I gotta run if I don’t wanna walk all the way home tonight. Text me if you need anything!” You yelled, halfway across his home and stumbling to get your shoes back on.

When the door slammed shut, the silence that surrounded Simeon was deafening. He had been able to hold out on taking you, but it didn’t mean he hadn’t gotten a taste of what it was like to sin. The uncomfortable dampness of his cum clung to his leg, but he barely noticed it. Instead, he was focused on the file on his phone. The recording of what transpired that afternoon.

Taking a shaky breath, he resisted the urge to press play. The scent of your arousal and the taste of your essence were still too fresh in his mind. He needed to clean up. He needed to work. He needed to research and plan for you. He sighed and started to make his way to the shower. If he needed relief, then at least he could take care of it there and not in the mess that was his soiled pants.

As the sun sank past the horizon and gave way to night, the light within his soul waned and the darkness he had pushed aside grew. After a taste of sin, it was only natural that he would crave more until it consumed him.

And it felt heavenly.

#Obey Me!#Obey Me! Fanfic #Obey Me! Simeon #Obey Me! Smut #Simeon x Reader #Obey Me! AU #My writing #i'm trash you're trash we're all trash #It's innocent ish now #It'll only get kinkier as we go #Formatting is weird af on tumblr #go to the Ao3 link for it to be proper with the words emphasized as they should be #I'm too tired to bother through tumblr sorry folks

139 notes · View notes

pastelsandhazelnutcoffee · 4 years

Text

Tips for your first semester at university - A Masterpost

So, I know that it always depends on the country you live in, but here in Austria the next university semester starts on the first Monday of October. I have been at University for 3 years now and I remember how lost I was when I came there first. So I thought that I´d share my experience for those that start university this semester.

Important: This guide is written especially for universities and not for colleges of higher education as they have a different system when it comes to lectures and such.

1. Inform yourself as much as possible about your university.

Nowadays, all universitys have their own homepage. What might be confusing however is that most universities don´t have only one. Big universities normally have a general homepage for all things that regard the university as a whole, like registration, academical celebrations or for example the actions that the university takes because of corona. This page is important for the first steps you have to take, like registration, getting your student ID and also for important news. This page will also show you what your university stands for, how they present themselves (for example if or how they support gender equality, students with physical or mental issues or their stance on climate change and what they do about it).

Often times, there are also one more pages for student services that help students with their questions and are responsible for organisatory stuff. Always check out their FAQ, it might help you a lot and sometimes they even have explaination videos. Most of the time, there are also contact options for you, like a telephone number, mail adress or even (when there is no lockdown) consultation hours in their offices.

At big universites, every faculty has at least one homepage, sometimes even more then one (for example one for students and one for the professors, sometimes another one for the curriculum and such...). And no, all these websites often are not linked to each other, so better safe them with a bookmark in your browser because otherwise finding a certain homepage again might cost you quite some time...On these pages, you normally can find the curriculum and sometimes even the recommended studying path - basically meaning which course you should take in which semester.

2. Find out where the buildings are and get to know them

Many universities have more than one building or campus. When you have to commute between them, it is important that you know how to reach them, how long it takes you to reach them (from home and from another building) and where the most important lecture halls and seminar rooms are. In most countries, the university buildings are open to the public you can just walk in and look around as long as you don´t walk into a seminar or lecture in the middle of it! If you can´t find a certain room, you normally can also ask the concierge for help. Maybe even take notes how to reach each building and the most important rooms so that when you are in a hurry and get overwhelmed by all the new experiences, you have a backup in case you forget something.

3. Plan your time wisely

You have to register yourself for the lectures and seminars you want to take each semester, so make sure you plan your time wisely. If you have to commute between buildings, don´t make yourself a tight shedule! You never know if you have questions for a professor after a lecture, if you want to exchange numbers with other students, if a lecture takes longer than planned or if the public transport arrives on time. Also, your first semester will be way more exhausting than you expect, no matter what you are used to! Never plan a full day at university for your first semester and I would also advice you to register for less courses than recommended. You can still do more in the following semesters and the first one is always the most difficult as you are not used to the new system. Keep days free for the asignments you have to or the notes you need to rework.

4. Get to know the surroundings of the buildings and the reading and studying halls.

Sometimes you will have some time between courses so it is important for you to know, where to spend these breaks. It also depends on what you want to do during this time: Talk to friends, eat, have a nice walk or read/write something for university? Most universities have rooms for studying and reading, where you have to be silent but also some where you can work together with other students and talk to them. Search also for bakeries, take-aways and a refectory so that you know where to get a meal from, if you have forgotten to bring something. Sometimes it is best to walk into some side-streets for normal grocery shops, as they often sell sandwiches and salads but are way cheaper than the refectories and restaurants in and around the university itself.

5. Have a student planner AND a calendar on your mobile phone

If you have a stundent planner, it easier to take notes about your assignments or write something down quickly. It is not dependend on a battery and you have a lot more space than on calendar or to-do-list apps. However, it can happen that you forget it on some days, so always a phone calendar as a backup to remind you of which lectures you have where and when!

6. Try out which way of taking notes works best for you

There are so many ways how you can take notes during courses, so try out which of them works best for you. I will soon make a special post about the different ways of talking notes and organizing them, so if you don´t know about this topic, make sure to check out the upcoming post!

7. Networking is key

You are not in a normal class anymore. You won´t see the same people in every course, so try to meet new ones in every course. You don´t have to be friends with everyone, but just exchanging numbers and helping each others out with homeworks or when you can´t visit a lecture every now and then is a great help. Also join Facebook, Discord or Whatsapp Groups and read what other students write in them. If there are none - make your own and invite as many students that you meet as possible. Ask other students - especially some from higher semesters - if you have quesions about organizational stuff, rules for thesis papers and recommendations of professors or courses.

8. Document your semester

Don´t spend too much time on it, but make sure to document some important details of your semester. Which professors do like or don´t like and why? Make sure to write down their names too, not only their courses, so you know where to register again. Write down which studying or note-taking techniques work beste for you and which don´t. Write down at which times of the day you are very productive at home and when is the best time for you to be at university.

10. Read the curriculum and the recommended study path thoroughly

The curriculum includes which courses you have to take, where you can choose and if there are requirements for some of them. It also includes description what you will learn in which course and approximately how much effort it takes to complete a course. Of course these descriptions are not always completely accurate but they will give you a good overview and especially which requirements are needed is very important to know and keep in mind.

Not all but many faculties also offer recommended study paths.These recommend, consdering not only the official requirements but also your knowledge and the efford, which courses you should visit in which semester. Often times, these are really helpful, so ask students from higher semesters if these are helpful and if they agree, then definitely stick to them!

11. Use Apps for students

There are many apps that can help you. Some of them are specifically made for connecting you better with your university by giving you direct access to your account, your mails, your time table and the latest news of your university. Other apps help you focus or keep organized. I will do another post on this topic too, so make sure to check it out too!

12. Don´t get a job immediatelly

If you can, don´t get a (part-time) job immediatelly. If you can afford to not earn money for some months, wait at least until your second semester to get a job. The first semester is challenging enough and no matter how tempting it seems to earn a nice amount of money, it is important that you can find your place at university.

13. Start studying early

I swear to you that during your school time, you never wrote an exam with such a huge amount to study - most likely not even your A levels. So either revise every weekend what you learned during the week or start studying at least some weeks before your finals to make sure you don´t underestimate it.

14. Keep yourself motivated

A semester at university can be very exhausting and challenging. You might not like all the courses you are registered for but also can´t drop out of them. So you need to keep yourself motivated, even in the middle of the semester when the next holidays and the rewards for your efforts seem far away. Keep your goals in mind, reward yourself every now and then for all the studying you are doing and use stationery that motivates you.

15. Bring enough food with you

You won´t always have the time to buy a meal at university and even if you have the time, more often then not they are overly expensive. Bring food from home that you can eat during your breaks, if possible even while walking - you may need to eat while walking to the next lecturing hall. Make sure the food won´t go bad during the day and bring brain food to. Also bring water with you and refill it during your breaks. Bring something like coffee, black or green tea, energy drinks or coffeinated gums too for long days or when you have to start very early in the morning.

16. Keep pencils and some sheets of paper everywhere

Modern technologies like mobilephones and laptops are nice and handy, but they are always dependend on their batteries. Therefore you should keep pen and paper in every bag you use, every jacket, every trouser or wherever you can keep them. By doing this, you make sure that you can always take notes, no matter what else happens. Also make sure you have a drawer or a place near your desk where you can collect these notes so you won´t loose them!

17. Keep the balance

A lot of people think that university means partying and having lots of free time. Others study all the time, having barely any free-time. With most of the exams taking place at the end of the semester, one can easily forget how much studying it takes to complete a course. On the other hand, all the new testing formats and the complex topics can seem overwhelming. Therefore it is very important that you keep a good balance between studying and freetime. Especially outside the finals week, it is good to keep one or two hours free per day that you use only for hobbies and leisure time.

18. Don´t let others pressure you about your grades

Yes, a lot of students like to brag about how fast they get on with studying and how good their grades are. Fact is, that you can´t see their university certificate, so you can´t even know if they are saying the truth or are just bragging. Furthermore, even if they say the truth, everyone goes their own path with their own pace. You don´t have to be the best or better than anyone. Do the best you can but never harm you physical or mental health for your grades!

19. Don´t be scared to change your field of study

In school you barelly get to know the different fields of study. Even subjects you have at school like a language or maths are totally different at university. If you realize that a field of study is not right for you, it is totally okay to change it! There is nothing to be embarassed about. It is important that you do what you like and what you can do - not everyone will be successful in every field. That does not mean that you should give up because one course becomes a bit difficult or because you got a negative grade on a final. Throwbacks and some troubles are normal in every study and don´t mean that you´re not qualified for it. But if you realize that it is not what you are interested in, it is better to choose a different field.

20. Don´t expect everything to be interesting

No matter how much you like a field of subject, there will always be some courses that you will find less interesting than outers. Keep yourself motivated when you have to do such courses and don´t give up because of them if you like most of the other courses and lectures.

21. Inform yourself about the types of courses before you register for them

Most faculties offer many different types of courses, all of them meaning a different effort and different ways of performance controls. Lectures normally don´t require you to be present (although it is helpful) and only have one test at the end of the semester. Seminars don´t have finals, instead you have to write a portfolio or thesis paper. Exercise courses normally have at least one test in the middle of the semester and one final plus multiple assignments or homeworks. There are many more kinds of courses, depending on your field of study.

22. Don´t expect too much from yourself

University is actually way harder then colleges or school. It´s the most difficult type of education you can choose, so don´t expect perfect grades from yourself. No matter how good your grades where at school, it is totally fine if you don´t keep them up at university! That does not mean that you became less intelligent, just that university is way harder than school!

I hope this post is helpful for some of you! I will be doing an own post soon on how to go about your first digital semester!

#university #studyblr #studyspo #studyinspo #studying tips #study tips #masterpost #study masterpost

56 notes · View notes

dopeflowerphilosopher · 3 years

Text

I previously posted some poetry I wrote last year back in November. I wrote those poems in the aftermath of when my ex assaulted me. He was arrested the night he assaulted me and was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, false imprisonment, and battery. When we was arrested they also filed an order of protection. He quickly bonded out and got himself one of the best defense lawyers in town while I was left with the state attorney representing me. While he was out on bond he repeatedly tried to contact me, stalked me, and sent me “gifts” trying to apologize so I would drop the charges. I recall one night he came into my backyard and started knocking on my window, trying to open it, and calling my name. I woke up in a panic, grabbed my phone, and called the police. By the time they got there he was gone. I still get flashbacks about that, I get flashbacks about the assault too. It’s hard to feel safe these days. But anyways, I made sure to keep proof of all the times he broke the no contact order hoping it would help support my case.

A few months passed and I was called upon to give a deposition before the case went to trial. His defense lawyer questioned me, making me feel comfortable at first so I was relaxed and speaking freely — then he went in for the kill. He used my previous trauma from another assault against me. Questioning me if I could recall properly what he did to me that night, or was I just experiencing flashbacks from the other attack. Arrow through my heart, I felt defeated. His lawyer found the holes in my story and he was going to use them against me to get my ex off Scott free… that was until I pulled out all the proof that I had about that asshole breaking the no contact order. The ball was back in my court now, because I wasn’t going to go down without a fight - not this time.

After the deposition ended, I waiting anxiously to hear back from the state attorney regarding the next steps in moving forward. She informed me that they were going offer a plea deal and asked what I wanted. I told her at least a year in jail, probation, counseling, and not allowed to own a firearm. She told me she would get back to me with their answer. When I finally heard back from her she informed me that they made a counter offer for 30 days in jail! What a slap in the fucking face that was - 30 fucking days! I told her no, I will not accept that. I asked her what would happen if we went to trial, and her response was that it was going to be a difficult trial because she would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that I was assaulted and with my difficulty remember exactly what happened that night could cause problems with winning the case. Knowing nothing about the legal system, I asked her what she would advise us to do. The state attorney said let’s counter plea and go with 90 days instead and see what they say. So I wait again to hear back from her.

It felt like forever, but I finally got the call. He took the plea deal; 90 days in jail, 4 years probation, has to complete a domestic violence course, and not allowed to own a firearm. Not the sentence I was hoping for, but it was better than nothing.

So now fast forward to last night… I’m trying to research when he is going to be released because I knew it was coming up soon. Check the inmate database - not results. I keep searching, and searching… then I stumble across a search for people on probation, and what do I find out? The fucking asshole was released early! And I was never informed. Hence all the posts about the incident. Trying to process everything all over again. It’s just triggers all my trauma knowing he’s back out on the streets and I could run into him, or he might show up, or worse — he’ll retaliate.

#triggering content #domestic violence #writing #ptsd vent

2 notes · View notes

wren-fell · 3 years

Text

Stuck in Borderland

Chapter 2: Six of Diamonds Part 1

Warnings: Language, weapons, violence

I split chapter two into two pieces, because I felt like it was getting too long. Part 2 is a WIP! Thanks for reading!

All characters are ocs except for Hatter and Kuzuryu who belong to Haro Aso.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sayaka leaned against the wall in the back of the lobby with Madoka, while Hatter stood on a balcony addressing the entirety of the beach with the same bullshit speech about hope.

“So he does this same speech every night?” Sayaka whispered leaning over to Madoka who nodded.

“More or less. It’s pretty much the same.”

“And you have to be sorted into groups for the games?”

“Yep. There’s always at least one militant in the groups. He says it’s to keep everyone safe. Gives us better odds if at least one person has a gun, but…” she cast a glance around the room and dropped her voice to a whisper, “I think it’s just to make sure we hand over the card in the end.”

Sayaka nodded. It had been 3 days since she had completed the 3 of diamonds game and been brought to the beach. And every night she had been treated to Hatter’s speech about hope, rallying the members before they went out to their games. But, now it was night three and Sayaka’s own visa was expiring, and that speech was directed at her.

Hatter ended his speech wishing them all luck and a cheer erupted from the lobby, as everyone charged to the front to receive their group assignments. Sayaka quietly pushed forward with Madoka, her visa also at its end. They made it up to the table where one of the beach members handed Madoka a folded piece of paper. Sayaka reached for her own paper when Kuzuryu appeared behind the table, “no need Sayaka you’re coming with my group. We want to test your skills see if you’re fit for an executive position.”

Sayaka stared at him wide-eyed before glancing at Madoka who smiled, “well good luck then. I’ll see you after, stay safe.” She flashed her the four from her card and gave Kuzuryu a nod, “nice to see you Kuzuryu.”

Kuzuryu nodded at her before turning to Sayaka, “we need to get going come along.” He turned sharply heading to the entrance.

Sayaka pouted, but glanced at Madoka with a sigh, “see you later be safe,” before following Kuzuryu. She didn’t want to be an executive, honestly the less time she had to spend around any of the executives the better. She had learned Niragi the man with the piercings was severely unhinged and was way too eager to kill someone should they make a mistake. Hatter gave her the creeps always taking different girls that looked way too young for him up to his room, and then there was Chishiya. He had been watching her since the night she had gotten to the beach. Sayaka always saw the flash of his white hoodie out of the corner of her vision, though he had never actually tried to talk to her, which just made it twice as creepy.

Sayaka was led to the same beat up corvette as the other night, though now she noticed that it had a crude “2” spray painted on the side. I guess that’s what the numbers mean. She sat in the car as it sped off into Tokyo to find a game arena.

“Sayaka.”

“Yes.”

“We will be using this game to test your skills. You excelled in the 3 of Diamonds game, if you do well tonight I can almost guarantee an executive position for you, which does have it’s perks so,” Kuzuryu glanced over his shoulder from the front passenger seat at her, “try and impress me.”

Sayaka frowned, but gave him a curt nod, “do my best.” She had no desire to impress him let alone be an executive. They pulled up to a high school one of the few buildings in the area with its lights on.

Everyone piled out of the car and headed towards the entrance with Sayaka lagging behind to survey the team she had been saddled with. If Kuzuryu wanted her in charge for the game she should know who she had to deal with. Their team of five consisted of Kuzuryu, herself, two militant men each with a handgun sticking out of their swim trunks, and one girl who seemed to take a liking to one of the militants hanging onto him saying how scared she was. Could be better, could be worse I suppose… But, it all depended what type of game this was.

They walked up the steps to the entrance passing through the doorway with the familiar shing of the security grid activating behind them. Sayaka picked up a phone from the table and the screen lit up, “facial recognition in progress, please wait for the game to commence.”

As the timer on the wall counted down Sayaka drew in a deep breath, the waiting was the worst part. The anticipation of finding out what type of game they were playing. She could see the fear starting to form on some of their faces. The girl who had been faking being scared actually started to look horrified, and was clutching tightly to the militant boy who was staring intently at his phone.

DING DONG, “registration is now closed. The game will now commence.” Sayaka stared up at the ceiling where she assumed the invisible voice was coming from.

“Game: Trivia Crush, Difficulty: Six of Diamonds,” Sayaka felt bile rising in her throat as she stared at the card lighting up her phone screen. She hadn’t played a game above difficulty level 4, especially a diamonds game.

“Rules:

Complete the trivia questions correctly to advance to the next room.

Answer a question incorrectly, and there will be consequences.”

“What kind of consequences?” The other beach girl asked, but everyone shushed her in response causing her to shrink into herself.

“There are 10 rooms in total.

Leave the 10th room before the timer stops, and you will have successfully cleared the game.

If you do not leave the final room within the time limit, you will die.

Time limit: 60 minutes,” a door opened on the room to the right of the lobby causing everyone to jump, “please proceed into the room to begin the game.”

Sayaka drew a deep breath before she walked into the room letting it out as she entered, you can do this, you’ve played trivia games before.

Once everyone had piled into the room the door slammed shut and locked with a loud click. Sayaka took this chance to survey the room. It was an old classroom with the desks still placed in neat rows with pencil and paper sitting on each. If it weren’t for the boarded up windows she would say there was nothing suspicious about it. The blackboard at the back of the room flipped causing them all to jump.

“Your time has started.”

“Alright Sayaka,” she turned to Kuzuryu, “this is your executive test, so you are the only one to answer these questions.”

She stared at him wide-eyed, but gave him a curt nod. What else was she going to say? Very slowly she turned her head towards the blackboard. Please don’t be math, pleeeaaaasseeee. Sayaka nearly cried out loud when she read the board.

Written in almost unsettlingly perfect handwriting was the question, “1. Write out the empirical chemical formula for Titin.”

“I know that!” She screamed as she ran full speed to the board fumbling for the chalk that she made fall onto the floor in her hurry.

“You do?” One of the militants asked.

“Yes, I’m a chemist. I memorized this as a joke to impress one of my professors to get an internship” she let out a breathy laugh at how insignificant that piece of her life seemed now, “it worked too.”

As she wrote it on the board the girl from the beach chimed in, “are you sure that’s right? There’s some sort of consequence if it’s not!”

“Shut it Akiko! Let her work!” The militant she had clung to a moment before snapped.

Sayaka paused and glanced to the side as she set the chalk down and took a step back, “yes,” she drew in a deep breath, “I’m sure this is right.”

“This answer is…” The was a long pause as the voice spoke, “correct! Congratulations, please advance to the next room.”

Sayaka let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and raked a hand through her hair, “thank god.”

A door to the right of the blackboard popped open and Kuzuryu walked past her towards it, “nice job, one down nine to go.”

She pouted, “don’t remind me.”

The next three rooms seemed a breeze simple trivia questions about the human body or science that were right up Sayaka’s alley.

They all walked through the fourth door to another classroom, but when Sayaka saw the question that was written on the board her heart sank. “Three resistors of equal resistance are connected in series. Compared to the voltage provided by the battery, voltage across each of the resistors is _______.” She walked up to the board and stared at it for a moment before turning to Kuzuryu, “I don’t know the answer.”

He nodded, “well you have to figure it out. This is your executive test.��

“Yea, but I don’t know anything about electrical work.”

“You can figure it out.”

Now Sayaka was starting to get mad, “what word do you not understand. I. Don’t. Know. The. Answer.”

“If you cannot solve the question on your own then we all die,” Kuzuryu said calmly.

Sayaka drew in a sharp breath sucking in her lower lip, “fine,” she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, “guess we’ll die then.”

The militant who had snapped at Akiko stomped up to her pointing the gun in her face, “solve the fucking question!”

“I can’t.”

“Do it or I’ll shoot you!” he screamed pushing the gun in her face.

Sayaka turned her chin up at him, “go ahead. You’ll die whether I answer it or not.”

“You have to answer it Sayaka,” Kuzuryu said trying to remain calm, but she could see the panic starting to build in his eyes.

“I can’t.”

“You’re not even trying!” The militant snapped.

“What do you want me to do teach myself electrical engineering in the next 40 minutes?”

“There are now 30 minutes remaining.”

“The next 30 minutes, excuse me,” Sayaka corrected leaning back against the wall.

“So we’re just supposed to die!?” The militant snapped.

“Guess so,” Sayaka shrugged.

“I can solve it.”

All of their heads snapped around to Akiko who was taking a hesitant step forward.

“We only have a one chance Akiko, shut up and stay back,” the militant snapped.

“Shut up!” Sayaka snapped and took a step towards Akiko, “how do you know you can solve it?”

“I was an electrical engineering student. I used to work with circuits all the time,” she said quietly.

There was a long pause as they all started at her, “I think she should do it,” Sayaka said.

Kuzuryu snapped his head around to look at her, “no this is your test.”

“Fuck the test Kuzuryu! Do you want to die?!” Sayaka flailed her arms.

He hesitated looking from Sayaka to the board to the phone in his hand where the timer continued to tick down, “fine.”

“Akiko it’s all you,” Sayaka said quietly holding the chalk out to her. Akiko drew in a deep breath and shakily took the chalk from Sayaka before walking up to the board. She drew a crude rectangular diagram with the same waves on 3 sides and an open space on the other.

“If this is what the resistors would look like, then the voltage would be…” she hesitated.

“Just answer it Akiko!” The militant shouted.

“Yelling at her isn’t helping!” Sayaka rounded on him.

“The same!” Akiko scribbled it on the board and closed her eyes, “the voltage would be the same!”

There was a deafening silence within the room before there was another chime, “Congratulations please advance to the next room!”

“Thank god! Great job Akiko!” Sayaka smiled patting her shoulder as they all clambered into the next room, room number 5.“What is the largest organ in the human body?”

“At least it’s another easy one…” Sayaka mumbled and headed towards the board, but Akiko’s militant was already scribbling on it.

“Psh, yea even I know this one!” He turned around crossing his arms, “it’s the stomach.”

Sayaka stared at him in horror, but when she opened her mouth to say something there was a loud buzzer sound. They all looked up at the ceiling as the silence came over them again, “That answer… is INCORRECT.”

“How is that not the answer!?” The militant screamed turning back to the board.

“Well what’s the consequence?” Akiko asked glancing at Sayaka who shook her head.

“I don’t know, but knowing the game makers it’s deadly,” she whispered. There was a loud thud and then the sound of screeching metal, and they had their answer as the ceiling started slowly dropping and spikes lowered from circular holes.

“Holy shit, change the answer! It’s skin! The largest organ is skin!” Sayaka screamed at the militant.

“You idiot skin isn’t even an organ!” He snapped back.

“Change the answer Kaoru!” The other militant yelled.

“That’s not the fucking answer Daichi!” Kaoru screeched back.

Sayaka honestly didn’t know what to say and just stared at him until Kuzuryu made a dive for the board. He erased the stomach and crudely scribbled “skin” down. They all paused waiting for the voice, but the ceiling kept lowering.

“That answer is…” The voice paused teasing them, “Correct! Please proceed to the next room.” The door next to the board popped open and they all made a mad dash for it.

Kaoru shoved Akiko out of the way knocking her down as he scrambled for the door. Sayaka helped Akiko to her feet and held her arms as they both slipped through the door and it closed behind them with a thud. They all stood breathing heavily until the voice chimed in, “there are 20 minutes remaining.”

“There are five rooms left that means 4 minutes per room,” Kuzuryu said turning to the board and they all froze. Sitting on the board was a long complicated calculus problem with the simple words, “solve this equation,” written above it.

“Oh we’re so fucked,” Sayaka breathed.

#alice in borderland #Alice in borderland oc #my writing #I know diamond games aren't all trivia based #but I felt like that fit how I think of the games best #Game rules are freaking hard man #I always struggle writing things that are multiple sections of the same thing (room to room) sorry if it gets repetitive!#stuck in borderland

10 notes · View notes

piilopirtti · 3 years

Note

Is it worth it to get sky? I want to get into it but I don’t know if I should and I want your advice

Hi sweet anon!

Short answer: Since you are already showing interest in it, I’d say go ahead and try! I find it gorgeous and relaxing and the community is awesome. It is free(!) to download and play, easy to start and learn and also easy to stop at anytime! So you won’t really lose money or even much time if you decide to see what’s it all about. You’ll only be one experience richer!

That’s about it in a nutshell, but then I also went and wrote longer loveletter version if anyone’s interested so here goes:

I remember visiting foreign country with my family when I was like, 4. I had a five-minute-friendship there with a local fellow kiddo. We didn’t share language, I don’t know how toddlers use telepathetic powers to connect, but that’s what we did. I remember holding hands with her and leading her and showing her to my parents with pride.

Somehow, Sky has managed to capture just that, that effortless way children co-exist and socialize in a world full of wonder.

These five-minute-friendships with other players might be my favourite thing. It’s like that feeling in real life where you open the door to a stranger and they smile and thank you. In Sky I run about on my own business and casually interact with others along the way, dance on the ice with a stranger, help to recharge a stranger, exchange polite bows with a stranger. They are little things that give me joy in this godforsaken year of isolation.

At first I was a bit wary of the social aspect and found it almost overwhelming to always have other players around me. But the community is possibly the nicest gaming community I’ve ever seen. (To be fair, I haven’t seen many communities.) People are out there to have a good time! You can choose if you want to engage in socializing or not and other players are usually very respectful if you choose not to. It feels very welcoming place to be in thanks to them. I might log in just to sit around and chill and feel at ease.

Of course, if you’re not an antisocial hermit like I am at times, it is a place where groups of friends hang out and have fun together! (Even I have managed to form lasting friendships, which I thought couldn’t be possible when I started.)

It’s easy to pick up and easy to put down, it doesn’t take up much time, and that’s a plus for me. I’ve been struggling lately to make time for gaming. It has started to feel like a commitment (”I can’t start this 50 hours+ game!”) and a waste of time (”How can I play when I could be i m p r o v i n g myself?”), which is absurd since I enjoy playing. Adulthood I guess. Sky has helped me to lower my bar, I might play 15-minutes per day and feel satisfied. I might decide to play longer than that and feel satisfied! It’s just that easy to casually grab the phone and have fun while drinking the morning coffee. It helps to remember that it’s okay to do things just for enjoyment and relaxation. (And on the days you’re truly short on time, it’s also a plus that you can indeed stop at 15 minutes!)

And yes, it is free. It has no free trials that expire or ads to plague and pressure you into buying some kind of ”full version”. Personally, I don’t feel pressured to buy any in-app purchases! I have done some, but it was after becoming familiar with the game and deciding that yes, I do want to invest my time to Sky. But they are not mandatory!

Last but not least: So visually gorgeous and enchanting soundscape. It’s better to go and experience them than try to put into words here.

No game is perfect of course. Some possible negatives include:

Repetitious. Once you feel you’ve seen everything in the overarching storyline , existential crisis hits the skychild! Some focus on collectibles, some start OOBing, some come around only to play the seasons that occur every few months. This issue ties in with the:

Grinding. The game can get grindy in a long run. It can get exhausting if you start to feel inclined to get all the time-limited cosmetics and rewards. I’m trying to avoid this gotta-catch-em-all –mentality and get only what I really like, not because I feel I ”must” have something because everyone else does . Some enjoy it tho, no judgment here!

System requirements. The game is heavy! My previous phone was laggy, my current overheats if I try to use higher fps. It drains the battery fast. It can take away from the enjoyment if your phone is older.

Controls. Well, that no longer bothers me but it was an obstacle in the beginning. Having never played a mobile game like Sky, the controls felt awkward and frustrating even. They feel natural today, but it took commitment to get past the awkwardness.

If you decide to visit the sky kingdom, welcome!

We just got this ice-rink. It’s neat.

#anon #piira answers #sky cotl #thatskygame #sky children of the light #that's the longest post I've ever written in any of my blogs wtf #truly the power of the skygame

12 notes · View notes

seymour-butz-stuff · 3 years

Link

A real estate agent might call our apartment in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston cozy with a sun-drenched bedroom. The reality is that it’s a small, cheap, window-heavy garage conversion. But it’s ours. We’ve filled it with art, good food, books, craft supplies, so many plants, dog toys. It’s our home. Now it makes my skin crawl, a reminder of how fragile these comforts often are.

There are blankets and rugs on the floors to protect feet and paws from the cold wood. There’s a pile of extra coats and sweatshirts in one corner. My girlfriend and I draped a sheet over our headboard so we wouldn’t have to touch the freezing metal and hung a camping lantern from our out-of-commission ceiling fan. Most of the apartment outside the bedroom was made useless, lost to the cold. We each keep a pile on our nightstand—a hat, gloves, and headlamp—in case we need to get up in the middle of the night and venture outside the bubble of precious heat we’ve created. None of this was comfortable, but it wasn’t deadly. At least not for us.

In Harris County, which houses Houston, at least 4 people are dead from hypothermia as ice and snow covered the streets and temperatures plummeted dangerously low. Counting the surrounding counties, at least 30 people are dead from weather-related incidents, The Washington Post reported on Thursday night. That number is sure to grow as we get a fuller account of the destruction. With each new death, Texans were reminded that asking for the basics was out of bounds. We want our lights to turn on, we want our homes to be habitable, we want our faucets to give us safe water.

The state turned away from us; we turned toward each other. Mutual aid funds populated every major metro area in Texas, giving away money for hotel rooms, food, gas, and the massive energy bills that will follow the disaster—no questions asked. Volunteers with donated water and all-wheel drive helped our elderly, unhoused, and disabled neighbors move to safer places. These groups—Houston’s alone has distributed more than $22,000 to date—became a lifeline.

It’s a beautiful thing born of an ugly thing. We shouldn’t have to donate money to keep us alive because the government is incapable of or indifferent to helping us. But every once in a while, you can see the indifference reveal a deeper contempt. Then-Colorado City Mayor Tim Boyd, in a perfect marriage of content and medium, wrote on Facebook that, “No one owes you are [sic] your family anything; nor is it the local government’s responsibility to support you during trying times like this! … The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!.”

Boyd started his tirade with, “Let me hurt some feelings while I have a minute!!” It’s a succinct enough expression of the modern Texas Republican Party’s beliefs as any I’ve seen. They see policies as a way of exacting pain on people they despise. When their cruelty is spelled out plainly, you’re the one who is too sensitive. They could never be the ones in the wrong. The ability to stand by that position is Trumpian, but predated Trump: Never apologize and never retreat.

The reality of a changing climate is that we will only become more reliant on each other, and we must decide what kind of world we’d like to live in as it burns—or freezes. In an interview with Texas Monthly, energy consultant and UT Austin research assistant in smart grid and bulk electricity systems Joshua Rhodes said while it’s theoretically possible that we might have avoided this week’s energy crisis, there’s also tangible reason why it happened: powerful people made choices.

“Could we have built a grid that would have fared better during this time? Of course we could have. But we could also build a car that could survive every crash you could possibly throw at it, but it would be very expensive and not many people would probably be able to afford it,” he explained. “At some point we do a cost-benefit analysis of how much risk we are willing to take. We have never had weather like this thrown at us, so it’s not surprising to me that we don’t have infrastructure that can support it.”

Rhodes continued, “We may decide now as a society that we do, but that’s a conversation we’re going to have to have with our collective self, if you will.”

But until such a time comes—and with the knowledge that the state would not provide aid to those who desperately need it—we planned for the storm to the best of our ability. My girlfriend and I were lucky: We had a well-stocked hurricane kit, snow pants from some camping trips we’d taken, more than enough blankets and coats, non-perishable foods, cash, and every lidded pot filled with water while we had water pressure. We only lost power for 36-hours, and it was after Monday—which was when it got down to 14 degrees.

But your own good luck stops mattering after a while, as your anxiety about your loved ones takes over. My grandparents, both in their 80s, lost power on Monday morning and spent the night huddled in layers in one room of their house. They would continue to do so for the next two days. Those days felt frantic. My texts to my abuela would go through green instead of the usual blue because her phone was off. I had no idea when it would turn back on; I just had to pray.

The closest warming shelter to my grandparents didn’t have transport for the elderly and information felt hard to come by—I still couldn’t figure out if they were open overnight. Joel Osteen had opened his megachurch, but getting them there would require freeway travel, which was itself extremely dangerous.

My parents live just outside of Dallas, near the airport, about five hours north of Houston. North Texas was being hit with much of the same conditions as the south, but was closer to the cold eye of the storm. They’re older, both diabetic. My mother is recovering from surgery. They set themselves up in their living room, next to the fireplace. They live at the base of a valley—all hills, nothing flat. Leaving could be deadly. Maybe they could make it to the Hyatt connected to DFW, but again that required freeway travel. I felt paralyzed: Inaction was the safest course of action.

It was hard to know what to do. We only had access to social media flooded with unverified reporting; checking the homepages of The Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and the Texas Tribune grounded us. (It also taught me that I need a solar or hand-crank radio.) Instagram became surprisingly helpful; Austin Fox affiliate morning anchor Leslie Rangel had an incredible rundown of the terrible conditions in central Texas. Chronicle reporters filed an impressive liveblog, seemingly answering every question we had about our pipes and when the weather would let up. Despite trying our best to conserve energy on our phones, it was our only lifeline and our battery banks became precious.

By week’s end, everyone in my family had their power back. Things were thawing. We had been spared. Spared by the fact of enough disposable income to buy those hurricane supplies. By the timing of our power outage. By bodies that were able to carry us down stairs and easily move in the cold. By jobs that shut down for two days and let us focus on surviving.

Not everyone had luck on their side. Texans were already hurting because of the pandemic. At least 41,000 people filed unemployed due to Covid-19 this week. Houston only passed an eviction grace period this week. Plus, to state the obvious, homes in Houston and along the Gulf shores are not meant to protect from this type of winter weather. Even if you were only marginally affected by the pandemic, but lost power in Galveston, you were in real danger.

If I sit with this governmental abandonment too long, it makes me seethe with rage. I feel it radiate at Ted Cruz leaving us for Cancún and John Cornyn’s culture war bullshit when power was already out and Rick Perry saying people would want longer blackouts to stop regulation or Greg Abbott blaming wind power and the not-enacted Green New Deal for the blackouts. I feel this rage at the long line of Republican governors and legislators who value markets over human life.

People across my state are dead. They deserve the truth to be told about their deaths. Their government did not adequately prepare them for a climate-change disaster. Their government did not adequately prepare itself for this climate-change disaster. And there will be more storms. We’ve seen disasters that the state has turned away from, never learned anything like a lesson from the loss of life or the scale of suffering. What’s more upsetting is that Texans who have lived through climate disasters support solutions. In 2020, the University of Houston found that three years after Hurricane Harvey, people whose homes were devastated by the 50-plus inches of rain dumped on southeast Texas overwhelmingly support flood mitigation efforts, but only 52 percent are “somewhat” or “very confident” in local officials to prevent future flooding trauma. Rick Perry doesn’t know anything about his state.

The most frightening part of the experience was coming out from the fog only to realize that the machine to forget was well oiled and running. As the climate crisis worsens, we will continue to see these “500-year” weather events. What happened this week was extraordinary. It was a catastrophe. How we were treated this week was unacceptable. How Texans were treated during Hurricane Harvey was unacceptable— was also a catastrophe. How Puerto Ricans were treated during Maria was unacceptable—another catastrophe. But our political system is built around forgetting, of powerful people who would like us to turn away from the things we’ve lived through—trapped in our homes, shivering—and turn away from each other. I keep hearing that I’m living through extraordinary times, and I guess that’s true. But we know this won’t stay extraordinary for long.

#structural racism

4 notes · View notes

emisfritish · 4 years

Text

Puppy eyes make anything paw-ssible - Part 1

Pairing: Sarawat/Tine (2gether the series)

Summary: Retraces the journey of how Charlotte came to be the most beloved member of the Guntithanon/Teepakorn household.

Chapters: 1/6 (although each part can be read as a stand alone).

Next parts : Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Notes: Hello, it’s been too long ! But because that MV was full of softness and let’s be real, Charlotte was definitely the MVP in it, this short series of snippets came into existence. The goal is for all parts to be out by the time the episode comes out tomorrow.

Is this series fully made of love and fluff ? Yes.

Did I name this fic after the worst dog-pun I could think of ? Also yes, you can’t stop me.

I guess this would take place between the end of 2gether and before the beginning of still2gether when it comes and wrecks all of my headcanons.

“No,” Sarawat repeats, eyes not wavering from the food currently cooking in the pot in front of him, while Tine is at his side, begging for his attention while trying to shove his phone in Sarawat’s face.

“But Wat, please, look at her !” he whines.

“No, it��s still not happening,” he responds with a firm voice.

This has been a discussion in their household for the past 3 days now, and Sarawat can’t believe they’re still talking about this.

“Wat, just look into her eyes and tell me you can say no to this.”

Yes, this has been a discussion for three days now. Only this time Tine came prepared, armed with a battery of photographs that Sarawat knows will melt his heart if his eyes waver away from the stove.

“Tine,” he ends up sighing. “I don’t even think they’re allowed in our apartment complex and...”

“They are, I already checked. We don’t even have to pay an extra deposit,” Tine cuts him off, and although Sarawat isn’t looking at him, he can still guess the triumphant smile his boyfriend must be sporting right now.

“Okay, so it’s allowed,” Sarawat swallows nervously. “But still, Tine… a dog ? Really ? It’s a big responsibility.”

He finally turns his face towards Tine, and he sees his boyfriend look at him, resolve on clear display.

“Not a dog, Wat. This dog. And I know it’s a big responsibility. But I think you and I ? We can take it on,” he answers, sure of himself, and Sarawat can already feel his resolve crumbling a little in the face of his boyfriend’s determination.

In the years since they’ve been together, Sarawat has rarely seen Tine be so sure about anything, his boyfriend usually the type to second-doubt things. And although the idea of being responsible for another living being kind of terrifies him, he owes it to Tine to at least try and understand why this is so important to him.

“Ok Tine, explain it to me,” he finally says, turning the stove off before facing him completely. “Why is this so important to you ?”

Tine looks startled for a second, as if he hadn’t expected to suddenly be faced with his boyfriend’s full attention, but he quickly finds his standing again.

“I’ve always loved animals, and I never imagined not having a pet in my home when I grew up, and I just…. I like the idea. Of doing this. Of us doing this, together,” he explains, one of his hands still holding his phone close to his chest while the other scratches at his neck nervously.

Sarawat tries to ignore the warmth spreading through his body at the words and focuses back on the main subject. If they’re going to do this, no way are they doing this lightly, without putting proper thought into it first.

“Okay, so we could get a turtle. Or a goldfish,” he says, smirk on full display.

“Saraleo ! “ Tines whines once again, rolling his eyes towards the sky. “You know it’s not the same at all. Plus… I really think she’s the right fit for us.”

“Tine, a dog is a really big responsibility, and because of your internship, you won’t even be there to take care of her with me a lot of the time in the coming months,” saying the words out loud hurts, but it’s the truth, and it would be foolish to ignore it.

Soon, Tine will be starting his internship and because he got a great opportunity to intern at a law firm in the city, he’ll be renting a room there, only coming back to Sarawat and their shared apartment on weekends.

“I know, but that’s all the more reason to do it ! She’ll be there to keep you company while I’m gone, like a miniature Tine replacement, ” Tine says with a smile, and Sarawat smiles back sadly at him. As if anything could really replace Tine’s presence in his life.

Still, this is a conversation for another time, and right now, they need to focus back on the situation at hand. Aka, the dog situation.

“Look Wat... If you really really don’t want to do it, I won’t force you,” Tine ends up saying, and Sarawat appreciates the sentiment. “But I think she could be a perfect fit for us. Her name is Charlotte. The shelter wrote down that she’s one of four puppies in a litter, and her mother died right after childbirth. All of her brothers and sisters have already been picked up by other people, and she’s still at the shelter after five months, she’s all alone right now. She needs a family and I think that could be us.”

Of course.

Of course, knowing Tine and his soft heart, it had to be because of something like that. Of course Tine would want the unwanted, the one left behind, the one no one seems to notice. His soft heart is one of the main reasons why Sarawat loves him. Really, he should have seen this coming.

And god. The things this boy does to him, without even realizing it half of the time.

Family. Tine wants them to be a family. A family made of him, Tine… and Charlotte, apparently.

Obviously able to see Sarawat’s resolve all but disappear and feel the victory, Tine pulls out his ultimate weapon, lifting up his phone, photo on full display.

“Wat, just look at her and how adorable she is. Can you really say no to those eyes ?” he asks, pushing the phone in front of Sarawat’s face so he can see the dog better.

And yes, Sarawat is doomed. Because just like he feared, she really is adorable.

And really, faced with the twin set of puppy eyes displayed by both the actual puppy and his boyfriend, did he really stand a chance anyway ?

He finally sighs, and sees the hope grow in Tine’s eyes.

“Fine. I’m not saying yes,” the yet isn’t said out loud, but he’s fairly certain they both hear it loud and clear anyway. “But we can go and meet her at the shelter at least.”

“YES !” Tine shouts, hurling himself onto his body and hugging Sarawat tight.

“I promise you won’t regret this, I’m sure you’re going to love her,” Tine says excitedly, and Sarawat can’t hold the smile on his face, pulling his arms around Tine’s body in return.

After a few seconds, Tine pulls back and hits him with the biggest smile Sarawat has seen from him in days.

As terrified as he is about being responsible for another living being and messing her up somehow, maybe it’s worth the fear to see the happiness displayed so clearly on his boyfriend’s face.

“I knew she’d win you over with her cuteness,” Tine says with a small laugh, and Sarawat shakes his head, smiling fondly towards Tine.

He wishes he could deny the statement, but really, looking at his goofy, soft and over-excited boyfriend, no one could really deny its truth anyway.

Sarawat really did have a weakness for cute, and Tine was the living testament of that.

#sarawat x tine #tine x sarawat #saratine #2gether the series #2gether #still2gether #2gether fanfic #saratine fanfic #2gether fic #saratine fic #emi writes #this is.... what it is guys xD I just need to put something out there to get back into the habit of writing #emi's writing

16 notes · View notes

ninamontagutbordas · 3 years

Text

HOW CAN WE MAKE AMENDS WITH OUR EXPECTATIONS? THIS IS WHAT MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT ME

I don’t remember the last time I woke up past nine A.M. Usually (and my friends will confirm this just because I know they make fun of me all the time), I’m in bed by 9 or 10 pm. But, like with everything in life, there’s a good side and a bad side to it. In my case, the perks of going to sleep before my friends are even home from work, is usually that, between 6 and 6:30 am, without the need of setting a terrible alarm, I’m awake. It doesn't matter if I go out until late, I always wake up early.

Don’t get me wrong, I know there are times where, going to bed early, is a terrible thing to do, because, if I have so many hours of sleep, it gets to the point where I’ll wake up at 4:45 or 5 am and never go back to sleep. (Bear in mind that, whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, almost every two days or so, I start writing for a bit because I have so many things running through my mind I feel the most creative). So, even if I fall back to sleep, I never sleep straight from 9 pm to 6 am.

A few weeks ago, I woke up at 5:57 and I thought to myself: “This is a great morning to go for a walk, nobody will be around, so I won’t be bothered by the terrible noises of a stressful Monday morning in the city”.

I go for walks by myself many mornings, usually, around 6:30 or 7 am. I’m generally wearing headphones but of course, this was the one morning my phone battery died halfway through for no other reason than my phone goes crazy from time to time, so, as you can imagine, the picture of the perfect walk was already being damage by my own expectations. At this point, I was a bit grumpy but decided to keep going a bit longer because it was still very early.

I like to have breakfast after my walks, it’s like a religious routine for me. I come home, I shower and I have breakfast. However, I never leave home without my daily dose of caffeine (I take my coffee black, no sugar, no milk), but, of course, this very morning, I was running off coffee at home so you can imagine how desperate I was to find somewhere to buy my first double espresso of the day.

I didn’t think this through, clearly, because ridiculously, I was “such in a rush” to leave my bed for NO REASON. There were no open bars at the time and the ones where you could stop by and grab some coffee “to-go” didn’t open until seven or eight.

So now the situation is like this: No battery, no coffee – just sleepy Nina wandering around doing exactly what she didn’t want to do, alone time with “me, my thoughts and I”. Sometimes when I listen to music I tend to analyze the writing of the songs and see if I can learn something from it and that gets me pretty distracted. No open bars to sit in either because if there were, I would have been smart enough to carry a book with me in case my battery died, as it did.

If you know me, you know I’m a pretty foresight person. I can’t control if my phone dies but I can control it if I bring a book with me “just in case”, because “just in case” is what I always do. It’s what I know to do.

I feel like I should explain myself just because you don’t understand how important my morning walks are for me. Also, I just explain this so that you understand how much I dislike when things take a south turn and I didn't see it coming.

I hate meditation (well, hate is a strong word and I promised myself long ago I wouldn’t use it, so, I will GLADLY correct myself). I don’t like meditation, I’ve tried it several times because I suffer from severe anxiety but it just never worked for me. If it works for you, great. I’m happy to hear.

My kind of therapy is usually writing or walking. Or writing while walking. Or walking while writing, if that makes sense. Or having coffee after a walk while writing. Or having coffee while walking thinking about my writing. Whatever. The point is, my morning walks are usually what gets me through my day. I am home before everyone else is awake, so I feel like I already accomplished something.

Plus, If I wake up at 5 am and I'm at home doing nothing, I get stressed. To be honest, I enjoy a lot being alone, but I’m not a calm person at all, so I try to always seek quiet places to surround myself with because it’s something I need.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WANT AND A NEED (Quoting my friend Selena Gomez in her latest song “I Want a Boyfriend”).

So, at this point, I’m 40 minutes away from home, with no battery, no coffee, no book, no bars, no writing. Nobody around but myself, the picture of the perfect nostalgic character that feels like an idiot and blames everything on the external factors instead of blaming it on herself. I could write a script about that character.

I didn't want to be like “you should have stayed at home”. I hate the word “should”. My relationship with it is pretty complicated because I try not to do things that lead me up to “I should have bla bla bla”.

I don’t have many regrets. I make choices and live with the consequences and this is probably because I always try to express my feelings and be as vulnerable as possible. And, by doing that, I can be brutally hurt sometimes, but in the end, I always find internal peace in it.

Also, I don’t like to give advice, but, if I have to sometimes, the only two things I say are the following:

1. Would you rather: Be awake because of pain or because of restlessness? Because the pain eventually goes away, but the restlessness, unfortunately, sticks with you for a very long time.

2. Don’t ever judge how a person’s feeling. You can have different opinions but a feeling is something intuitive and you can't disagree with it. Feelings are facts.

But, contrary to what I’m writing, that morning I was like “Should I sit down and just wait?” But then I was like “Wait for what?”. Again, I felt like an idiot, and unfortunately, I didn’t understand why. Did I want to go home? Yes, of course, I wanted to go home but, to get there, I still had almost an hour without music, coffee, phone battery, or a pen and a notebook, and that made me angry.

For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way I felt during and after my walk. During that time, I had stopped writing for a while (I usually write every day but there are times where I have to distance myself from my writing), but if I tried to write something down, this was the only thing I could write about.

Of course, none of it was good enough because I still didn’t understand what was I exactly feeling. To be very clear, I never consider my writings are good enough if I don’t understand where they come from. My therapist always makes fun of me because he’s like: “You really know yourself well so what are you exactly doing here?”.

What is the emotion that comes after anger? That's what I was feeling, and that's what I was asking myself repeatedly.

So I googled the question (yes, googled as in a verb, not a noun) to see if I found a comfortable answer. “Common emotions known to trigger anger are anxiety, shame, sadness, fear, frustration, guilt, disappointment, worry, embarrassment, jealousy and hurt. All of these emotions are experienced as negative and are perceived as threatening to our well-being”.

SO, WHY WAS I ANGRY?

Suddenly, it clicked for me. When do I usually feel like this? When have I felt like this before? I feel like this when I get things wrong, and by getting things wrong, I mean when my expectations about something or someone are far from the actual scenario. I’m a pretty good judge of character so, when I get it wrong, it makes me angry, and all the following emotions that come with anger.

But this wasn’t new. Many, many times before I had experienced this feeling, however, it had been a very long time since this has happened to me again in such an obvious way, so that’s why it took me a while to figure out where this was coming from.

The truth is that, whether it's hard to admit it or not, this is a problem I deal with constantly. I don't forgive myself when I get something wrong because of preconceived ideas that create an imaginary narrative in my head. Sometimes because I don't want to admit that some things will never be as I want them to be, and sometimes because it's hard for me to let go.

I felt something similar recently with a whole different experience than my morning walk, but, again, it felt pretty much the same. I got it wrong.

And, it got me thinking.

I always thought that, when it came to situations I didn't have full control of, I had to make a truce with people or moments I was involved with, but it wasn't until now where I realized the only one I have to be in a truce with, is myself.

And, by myself, I mean my expectations. I have to make amends with my expectations. Nobody but me is responsible for it. And that’s because I am the one who’s disappointed at the end. I have to accept the fact that sometimes I have lost (and will continue to lose) to my expectations. Expectations 1 - Nina 0.

Again, I don’t know regret so I’m glad I now can learn how to protect myself from this kind of feeling and take a bit of distance from situations that will tempt my imagination.

I now see very clearly what will make me feel good, and what will not. I went on a walk again this morning. This time, no phone, no book, no coffee, deliberately. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Actually, It wasn’t bad at all, because when I came back home, I wrote this essay.

1 note · View note

hiddendreamer67 · 5 years

Text

Enemies to Lab Partners to Make Out Session Associates

This is a commissioned piece for @eat-moar-veggis for their sanders sides OC ask blog: @ask-villegas-sides .

Summary: When Flint, the science teacher and also Beckett’s dad, paired up Beckett with Reese on a group project to help them ‘grow closer’, he never could have anticipated how close the boys would actually grow. Also featuring guidance counselor Lev.

Commission info available here! Commissions are open! :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dad, please, don’t pair me up with Reese.” Beckett begged, staying after class with his father, Flint, the high school Chemistry teacher. “He’s insufferable.”

“You seem to be under the impression that everyone is insufferable.” Flint mused.

“Well, it’s true!” Beckett said exasperatedly. “But he’s extra insufferable. No, he’s just extra, period.”

“Is that a slang term?” Flint asked, stacking a few student’s papers on his desk so it appeared more orderly.

“Yes, dad, it’s slang, and in this case it means bad.” Beckett groaned. “Reese is the epitome of everything wrong with the world. He likes crowds, and people, and things.”

“You like ‘things’, as you put it so delicately.” Flint was clearly fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

“Yeah, but not theatre things.” Beckett stuck out his tongue. “Or jock things. He’s probably gonna end up shoving the whole project onto my plate, and if that happens I’m not doing it so I need a new partner.”

Flint paused, putting a hand to his chin as if he was considering the proposition. “I always wondered what it would feel like to fail my own son.”

Beckett immediately paled at his words. “Dad, you’re…you’re not serious, right?”

“I’m always serious.” Flint assured him, gesturing to his necktie as further evidence to his serious nature. “Beckett, it’s a group assignment, not the end of the world.”

“Sounds the same to me.” Beckett muttered.

“Beckett, I will not be having any more disruptions in my class.” Flint said, his voice turning stern as he glared down over the bridge of his nose. “You and Reese have been solely responsible for three interruptions in my class in the past week. I will stand for it no longer. Pairing you two up is my last warning for you two to get. Along. If I don’t see the two of you growing close over this assignment, I will be forced to report your behavior to the school board and fail you both for this project.”

“Dad!” Beckett’s jaw dropped, shocked at how harsh his dad could be.

“My word is final, Beckett.” Flint gave a nod to the door. “I trust you heard my declaration as well, Reese?”

Beckett turned to see the theatre athlete standing in the door frame, looking as though he was about to knock. Reese lowered his hand, looking sheepish. “…clearly, Mr. Flint.”

“Good.” Flint seemed pleased with this resolution. “Then I trust you two will spend the rest of your study hall getting started instead of moaning to me about how unjust my decisions are. The library should be an ideal place to set up.”

“The library should be an ideal place to set up.” Reese mocked, only for his eyes to widen in horror as he realized he said that out loud. “I mean, uh, meet you there!”

“No running in the halls!” The counselor’s called from the hall, the sounds of frantic footfalls slowing only slightly on the tiled floors.

“Guess I better go after him.” Beckett muttered, shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets and trudging down the hall.

It wasn’t fair. His dad shouldn’t be able to force Beckett to behave with Reese as if he could just shove them into one of those two-person ‘get along’ shirts. This was totally embarrassing! Beckett didn’t even care about the stupid grade in the first place, having planned on bailing the second he figured out his partner, but now he had to actually make- ugh, an effort- so that he didn’t end up on the gallows in front of the entire school board.

“You’re late.” Reese commented the moment Beckett arrived, setting the teen’s teeth on edge.

“Well, you cheated.” Beckett growled. “And you’re a prick.”

“Ah, I see you’re just as pleasant outside of daddy’s class as you are inside.” Reese rolled his eyes with a smile. He held out his palm. “Give me your phone.”

“What the hell? No.” Beckett frowned, considering this to be the world’s worst mugging attempt.

“I’m not stealing it.” Reese rolled his eyes again. He seemed to do that a lot. “I’m just going to put in my phone number.”

“Why can’t I have your phone, then?” Beckett raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, and get your weird witchy cult vibes all over it?” Reese looked like he was pretending to gag. “No thanks.”

“You shouldn’t insult me if you want something.” Beckett argued.

“You walked in here and immediately called me a prick.” Reese deadpanned.

“Well, you said I was late.”

“’Cause you were.”

“Maybe you were just stupidly early.”

The two were quiet for a moment, irritated energy practically seething off of them both.

“A truce, then.” Reese decreed, pulling out a pen and paper. He wrote down his number, sliding it across the table to Beckett who typed it into his phone. Reese’s own phone dinged a moment later, and he pulled it out to check the message.

B: Hey stupid.

Reese rolled his eyes, not even bothering to reply as he tucked the phone back into his pocket. “I don’t just hand out my phone number to everyone, so treat this as a privilege. Don’t abuse it.”

Beckett raised an eyebrow, a silent challenge. “You got it.”

A moment later Reese’s phone dinged again, so he pulled it out.

B: Made ya look. ;p

“Oh, real mature.” Reese huffed, putting his phone back and not deigning Beckett with a response. Beckett seemed content to keep staring down at his phone, a series of chimes coming from Reese’s pocket again. “Beckett, I swear on Evan Hansen himself I will block your number.”

Okay, yeah, maybe Beckett was being a little immature. But watching the steam metaphorically blow out of Reese’s ears when he saw the stream of penguin emojis he kept endlessly sending made it all worth it. Who knows? Maybe messing with Reese wasn’t his dad’s intended goal of this pairing, but it was certainly a nice side effect. Eventually, Beckett stopped sending penguins long enough to agree on a time to meet up after class, the bell indicating their study period was over.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

B: You’re late.

Beckett tapped his foot impatiently, trying not to let his anxiety overwhelm him while he waited. This was where they always met, having started meeting up regularly a month ago. He had already checked, double-checked, and triple-checked their meeting spot twenty times on his phone in the last ten minutes. There it was, plain as day: Reese had said to meet at the library at 4:00 today. Now it was 4:20 (holla), and Beckett was considering ghosting Reese for the rest of existence.

But no, that wouldn’t work. With his luck Becket messed up which library they were supposed to meet at and Reese was going to be mad at him and then Beckett’s dad would think he wasn’t trying to make this work and they’d both fail and Reese would hate him forever-

…wait. Why did he care what Reese thought of him?

Beckett scrambled for his phone, hearing an almost silent ‘ding!’ in the foreboding silence of the library.

R: So sorry, practice is running late. Be there in five?

Practice? Practice for what? Beckett couldn’t even begin to guess. It seemed that Reese had a habit of signing himself up for quite literally everything the school offered. Beckett could never keep track of all that, and he never wanted to either; who needed all that unwanted pressure? High school was bad enough, thank you.

Beckett bounced his leg, nervously watching the clock count with agonizing slowness. It felt weird, just sitting here alone in the library where anybody could be staring at him. He knew the others were judging him. Beckett could feel their stares on the back of his neck, and took solitude in trying to distract himself with his phone. The battery was dying.

4:29. No sign of the jock in sight. Should he text again? Was that rude?

Beckett shook his head. This was ridiculous, he wasn’t the rude one. Reese had practically ditched him after making this plan in the first place.

B: You’re still late.

Even knowing he was in the right, Beckett held his breath as those three little dots appeared, indicating the thespian was typing.

R: Sorry!! This might take a while. Mind meeting me at the football field?

Yes, Beckett did mind; he minded very much. The football field was where kids like Beckett got beat up- not that Beckett went there often enough for that to happen, but cliché teenage Rom Coms never lie. Still, Beckett had nothing better to do, and he needed Reese to pull his weight in this project. It was with no small amount of grumbling that Beckett reminded himself that Reese was a… surprisingly competent partner. For a jock, anyway.

B: Be there in five.

Unlike Reese, Beckett actually meant it. His anxiety wouldn’t allow him to be tardy for fear of disappointing someone, even if that someone was a theatre kid with his gigantic head stuck in a football helmet.

He wasn’t going because he wanted to, in fact frankly Beckett would rather be just about anywhere else. Of all the activities he refused to participate in, sports was at the top. He couldn’t imagine exhausting himself, all eyes on him as he put his body through strenuous situations of his own free will. It was suicide. Not to mention, people got so invested in sports games; how did the players deal with all that pressure? If you missed the ball, you were letting the entire school down. And, even if you won (highly unlikely, given their football record the past few years), the opposing team would still hate you for making them lose. No matter what, you ended up sweaty and boo-ed. Yeah, no thanks.

But, as he turned the corner, Beckett’s eyes widened at all the muscled high school boys, realizing they were divided into shirts and skins. His heart rate increased, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that Reese was part of the half that was shirtless because on the one hand oh my god he’s so hot I’m too gay for this- and on the other hand how dare he look that hot I’m supposed to be mad at him.

…so maybe not all aspects of sports were inherently evil.

“Hey, Beckett!” Reese gave him a wave, jogging over to meet him with a smile on his face. Beckett’s own face flushed, and he burrowed further into his oversized hoodie. How did Reese manage to look so comfortable in his own skin when he was only wearing half his clothes?! Totally unfair. “I’m so sorry about all this, coach just wants us to run a few more plays before we’re done for the evening. But I figured it’d be best if you were here, so we can get started as soon as we’re done. Do you want to watch?”

I would like that very much. Beckett gave an awkward cough, shoving that thought into the far recesses of his mind. “Uh, yeah, I could do that, I guess.”

Reese gave a nod of acknowledgement, jogging back to his team as they did…a sports thing. Beckett couldn’t really comprehend what was going on, but the men seemed to be running back and forth a few times across the field.

Beckett looked up at the bleachers, deciding to take a seat while he waited. A few friends of the football players were up here as well, including a scattering of girlfriends. Beckett let them keep the front few rows and instead climbed his way to the very top where he could avoid having a social interaction ever.

The autumn wind was chillier up here, and Beckett pulled his jacket tighter around his chest. How was Reese not freezing out there? Granted, he was running around and sweating up a storm, but he was still shirtless. Why was the coach being so cruel? Would Reese catch a cold? That would be awful, especially since Beckett didn’t know how to cook soup to make him feel better- THE PROJECT! It would be awful because Reese wouldn’t be able to help him with the project. That was most certainly the only reason.

It was times like these Beckett truly loathed his dad for trying to force him to get along with the annoying hot popular guy. The world was already in love with Reese, so what did it care what Beckett thought? Beckett was nothing. He was the discarded gum that got stuck to the bottom of people like Reese’s shoes, only to be scraped off at their earliest convenience. People in high school shouldn’t be put up on a pedestal, and Beckett used to have no qualms about putting Reese in his place because Beckett was so low on the food chain he had nothing to lose.

Now, Beckett felt like he was on the brink of losing everything he had never gained in the first place.

“BECKETT!” The emo jumped, startled out of his depressing thoughts when he heard his name being called. He glanced down, seeing Reese at the bottom of the bleachers, a towel wrapped around his shoulders. The idiot was still shirtless. “PRACTICE IS OVER!”

Did that mean Beckett should come down? He assumed so. Carefully he descended the stairs, feeling uncomfortable at the sensation of being watched. Reese was definitely watching, and a few other bystanders turned to give him curious glances as well. Beckett must be the first cryptid to ever show up to football practice.

“Put on a shirt.” Beckett muttered, not looking Reese in the eye when he finally got to the bottom of the stairs.

Reese blinked, seeming surprised by this statement as he glanced down at his bare chest. When he looked up, the smirk on Reese’s face made Beckett want the earth to swallow him whole. “Why? Like what you see? Is my herculean frame too distracting for your mortal presence?”

“You’re gonna catch a cold.” Beckett huffed, which only seemed to make things worse as Reese let out a sort of squeal.

“Aww, I knew you care.” Reese cooed, and now Beckett wanted to die on the spot.

“Yeah, because a dead lab partner doesn’t do me any good.” Beckett said defensively, his shoulders hiking up to his ears. “But a partner that ditches isn’t any better.”

Reese paused, the smile on his face quickly falling. “I- you’re right, I’m sorry-“

“Whatever.” Beckett cut him off. “Just get your clothes on and let’s go.”

Reese nodded, quickly pulling on his shirt and letterman jacket, red in an obnoxious way that made his eyes pop. He fell in step beside Beckett, the two walking in a tense silence as they headed back towards the building.

“I really am sorry.” Reese spoke up softly. “I wasn’t thinking, I forgot about practice, but I thought it’d be fast enough that you wouldn’t notice. I should have texted you earlier.”

“Yeah, I get it, you’re too busy.” Beckett shrugged, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal.

“No, that’s no excuse.” Reese said firmly. “Your time is just as important as mine, and I wasted it. I need to make it up to you. Do you like coffee? I can take you out sometime.”

“What, like a date?” Beckett teased, trying to keep his tone light and not as hopeful as his traitorous heart would believe. “If you wanted to get into my pants you could’ve just said so.”

Now that was the wrong thing to say to your growing crush. Even worse was the way Reese froze up, his face turning brighter than a cherry tomato.

“No, that’s not-!” Reese stammered, looking offended, and Beckett’s heart plummeted at the thought of being rejected even in a joke. “I would never be so crass, or forward, especially without- I mean, your intentions are important too, I wouldn’t just force myself on you like that, I was trying to be a gentleman about it-“

“Wait, what?” Now it was Beckett’s turn to blush tomato red. “Are you- you’re serious? About the pants stuff?”

“NO!” Reese’s shriek of indignation was so high-pitched Beckett could have mistaken it for a girl. “Certainly not off the bat. But- the ah, the date? I mean, maybe? Oh Lin Manuel Miranda, I never even asked if you’re into guys-“

“I am.” Beckett interrupted, a bit too suddenly for his own good. “Into you, too.” Was this a joke? Was Beckett being pranked? He didn’t exactly love the idea of a bunch of popular guys deciding to gang up and craft a plot to break his heart. Still, even as his anxiety tried to suggest such a nefarious scheme, Beckett couldn’t picture Reese being part of it, especially as the thespian had been reduced to a blushing, stammering mess at Beckett’s feet.

“Maybe…” Beckett swallowed, hoping he was making the right decision here. Good lord Romance was not his department. “Ugh, this is just… let’s start with coffee, okay?”

Reese visibly relaxed, as though a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders. “Coffee it is.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, they had started with coffee dates.

And then coffee dates turned into regular dates.

And then came the hand holding, the soft kisses, and then… more.

Beckett wasn’t actually sure if Reese was his boyfriend, but there certainly should be a shorter title than Lab Partner who Occasionally Disappears Into the Back Room With Me For Super Hot Make Out Sessions.

Unfortunately, the privacy of the back room came with the unspoken caveat that while Beckett had access, it was truly his father’s prep room, and it was only a matter of time before they were caught.

“You know, while I did express that I wanted you two to grow closer as individuals, this is a bit closer than I anticipated.” Flint deadpanned, flicking on the light.

“Dad!” Beckett frantically shoved away from Reese, trying in vain to disguise the fact that moments ago his hands were wandering beneath the jock’s shirt while Reese ran his fingers through Beckett’s hair. (Beckett was pleased to note Reese’s chest felt as good as he imagined ever since that football practice).

“Professor Flint!” Reese said hastily, his face ashen as he looked like a frightened doe. Goodness gracious did Beckett just want to kiss that adorable look off his face. It was a pity his gay thoughts would not assist the situation at hand.

“Reese. Beckett.” Flint’s tone was eerily calm, the kind of scary dad tone that indicated he was about two seconds from blowing up. The teacher took in a long, tense breath, seeming to be calculating something in his mind. “I think you should both count yourselves grateful that I have discovered you on school property, and thus have an obligation to follow the necessary procedures.”

Uh oh. Beckett was tense, stepping forward to follow his father as he gave a wave of his hand. Reese moved to follow too, Flint pushing the high schoolers apart so that they stood on either side of him and had a few feet of separation.

“Where are we going?” Reese asked timidly, more nervous than Beckett usually heard him.

“The guidance counselor.” Flint’s tone was clipped now, clearly more annoyed at Reese considering he was the one discovered making out with Flint’s son. “You both have behaved wildly inappropriately.”

Reese and Beckett exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing: We’re screwed.

Flint raised his knuckles, raping on the hardwood door. There was a pleasant “Come in!” spoken from inside, and Flint’s posture seemed to relax somewhat as he opened the door.

“Good afternoon, Lev.” Flint smiled, and Beckett found it strange to see his father acting so laid back in his greeting. Beckett didn’t know his dad even knew the counselor. Did they talk behind his back?

“Oh, heya Flint!” Lev, the guidance counselor, greeted him in turn. “Nice to see you too, Beckett. And who’s this young man?”

“This is Reese.” Beckett jerked his thumb towards the guy he makes out with sometimes.

“How do you know Beckett?” Reese blurted.

“Oh, he comes in here all the time.” Lev explained with a wave of his hand. “I love having him as company.”

Beckett shuffled his feet. “Lev helps with my anxiety.”

“Be that as it may, I think it will be more beneficial to get to the matter at hand.” Flint remained standing, watching the boys sit like two properly scolded school children. The analogy was quite accurate. “I have just apprehended these two boys engaging in… suggestive acts within my lab prep room.” Lev stifled a giggle, causing Flint to frown. “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry Flinty, I know this is serious.” Lev put on his serious face, making Flint’s lip twitch up. “Now boys, care to explain your side of the story?”

“No.” Beckett answered honestly, shrinking in on himself as he tucked his knees up to his chest.

Reese sent him a glare, which clearly was meant to say ‘Don’t you dare abandon me now, you traitor.’

“Ah…that would be an accurate description.” Reese conceded. “Beckett and I thought the privacy was, um, ideal, for… kissing.”

“Just kissing?” Lev clarified, immediately making everyone else in the room twice as uncomfortable.

“Yes, just- just kissing.” Reese looked ready to spontaneously combust. “With some touching, but clothed, and-“

“I do believe we have an accurate image of the event.” Flint raised his voice, cutting Reese off before the image could get more engrained into the poor father’s head.

“Yes, agreed.” Lev nodded. “Boys, I think you’re both smart enough to know that acts of PDA are not allowed on school grounds, especially to that extreme. Save it for when you get home.”

“Or not at all.” Flint couldn’t help but tack on. Beckett rolled his eyes, but this seemed to be a very poor choice as Flint gave him the dad glare. “Do you disagree, young man?”

“…no sir.” Beckett winced, his eyes soon staring down at his lap.

“With all due respect, I do disagree.” Reese spoke up, and Beckett’s eyes snapped to him instead. The jock had puffed out his chest, clearly acting with a confidence he didn’t fully possess. “I think I have a right to physically show my appreciation for my wonderful boyfriend, in moderation.”

Boyfriend. He said boyfriend. Beckett couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. His now-boyfriend was such an idiot, and Beckett loved him so much. Hopefully he wasn’t about to die by his father’s wrath.

The room was unbelievably tense, Reese and Flint caught in a staring match. Flint was cold and unyielding, while Reese was firm but polite. Jeez, what had Beckett ever done to deserve such a gentleman to stand up for him like that? Even if it was about something as trivial as steamy make out sessions, Beckett couldn’t help but feel his heart swell.

“They’re just kids, Flint.” Lev spoke up softly, going over to put a hand on Flint’s arm. Flint broke away from the staring match, looking into Lev’s eyes with an unreadable expression.

Lev turned back to the boys, giving them a small smile. “Now, since this is your first offence, only a verbal warning is required, so don’t let the two of us catch you making out in any more closets.”

“Yes sir.” Both boys spoke in unison, the tips of their ears turning red in embarrassment.

“Reese, I do believe the two of us will need to have a chat, off school grounds, about the nature of your relationship with my son.” Flint spoke up, in full dad mode.

Reese gulped, giving a stiff nod as now he was properly shamed. “Understood, sir.”

“Well, sounds like everything is working itself out!” Lev clapped his hands happily. “You boys are excused, have fun you too.”

“We will!” Reese assured him, flinching at Flint’s gaze. “Ah, an appropriate amount.”

Beckett hurried out the door after him, nearly missing the way Lev was asking Flint to grab coffee with him. Wait, was that a coffee date? Beckett definitely needed more details about that later. In the meantime, though, Beckett had a super hot idiot to thank for defending his honor.

Beckett fell into step beside Reese, slipping his fingers between his boyfriend’s and leaning close to whisper in the thespian’s ear. “Want to get off school property?”

“Sweet mother of pearl, yes.” Reese said breathlessly, the two racing each other to the door.

#ask-villegas-sides #eat-moar-veggis #commissions #commission #writing #writing commissions #reese #beckett #lev #flint

37 notes · View notes

oncearoundthegarrison-blog · 4 years

Text

London to Lundy Part 1

5 months sounds like a long time, but when you’ve started a new job in a completely different industry, it flies by. New colleagues, new commute, new schedule, new maze-like museum building that took at least a month to get used to. Even new vocabulary.

I felt like I was desperately treading water, slowly drowning in a sea of to-dos. It finally took the Christmas period, when the museum was closed, most colleagues and external contacts had taken holidays and my telephone and inbox fell quiet, that I had a moment to realise... I have 13 days of annual leave to use up before the end of the financial year.

My husband’s birthday is in March, so I thought we could go somewhere together to celebrate, as we had been doing the last few years. The thing is, my husband works in a small company, a team of 3, in fact. Unfortunately, the other 2 also have their birthdays in March, so, being the most junior, he felt he couldn’t take a week off, especially because they were planning a work trip around that time too.

“You should go on a yoga retreat by yourself.” he suggested. As if I wanted to pay hundreds of pounds to go and spend days stretching with strangers, some of whom were guaranteed to be a little too ‘woo-woo’ for my taste (no offence).

I decided I wanted to do something that was ‘worthwhile’ with my time. After hours researching expensive (and scammy) conservation holidays, scrolling through WorkAways and WWOOFing opportunities, I somehow landed on the jackpot; a National Trust working holiday on Lundy, a three mile long, half mile wide island off the coast of North Devon.

Having hastily signed up and gained a place, I set to work on the dreaded getting-there logistics. The first thing was already ticked off the list. The only way of getting from the Devon coast onto Lundy Island at that time of the year is by Helicopter. With that booked, I looked into getting from London to Devon and back.

The autumn before, I had bought my first car. It’s a fully electric Nissan Leaf. Using it largely for the weekly shop and commuting to work (15 minutes if the traffic is nice, 1 hour if it’s the usual), it’s the perfect car for pootling around the city and suburbs, where an electric charger is always close to hand. We’d done the odd 2 hour drives, but the route planning, and adding 30 mins per charge stop, the anxiety of ‘what if the charger we are heading towards is out of order’ was quite stressful, so a solo drive down to Devon seemed a foolhardy concept.

But, the more I tried to arrange the public transport, the more complicated things got. First off, the nearest train station is 25 miles away, and you need to get on a bus for an hour even to get close to the helipad. Not only that but you had to get there by 10am latest, so unless you wanted to leave London at crazy o’clock, you had to arrive the night before and find accommodation. On top of that, on the way back, you have no idea what time your helicopter flight is. “Sometime between 11 and 3pm, and it depends on the weather, you could be delayed to later in the afternoon or even the next day!” So booking a train for the way back was a gamble. Driving to Devon in my electric car started to look like a more attractive, at least simpler, concept.

I’m not what you call a confident driver, and some past long distance drives had been very stressful. It’s hard for me to forget that I could kill myself or anyone else by making a silly mistake. And I make plenty of those in my everyday life. What if I don’t plan well and I run out of charge on my car? The prospect of driving alone, for four hours, which would probably include at least 4 charges, was terrifying. Also, if I want to arrive at the heliport at 9:30am, then I would need to leave at 5:30am, but add on 4 x 30 minute charges is 3:30am, and maybe I should add an extra hour in case I take the wrong turning or there is traffic or a diversion... well that’s crazy o’clock. So I decided to break up the journey by stopping off at my uncle’s in Bristol.

The week before setting off, I made sure to check and double check the route on the Zap-Map app, which shows you the locations of all the EV chargers. I read reviews of each charger, making sure it was used recently and recorded as having a successful charge. I made sure I knew the locations of at least 2 other chargers near the one I actually planned to charge at, in case that one was occupied or faulty.

I wrote out the addresses of each charger, in case I lost my phone. I packed a portable power bank for my phone, in case it ran out of battery. I found out what numbers I need to call if I break down or run out of charge, or have an accident (yeah OK I should’ve known those already). Some chargers require you to start the charge using your mobile phone... but what if you didn’t have enough reception? I drove my husband crazy with my fretting and stressing. I made sure I had enough car snacks and a good playlist.

Then the day finally came. I left for Bristol around 9.00am. It was a bright sunny day and I left in high spirits, onto the M4. Forty minutes later, dirty black clouds appear and it starts to properly pour. The roads were not too busy but there was a ropey 15 minutes of very poor visibility, the spray from the other cars and lorries obscuring the road like a thick fog. My heart pumping, I was very glad to arrive at my first charge stop at a service station just after 10am.

There, I struck up a conversation with a fellow Nissan Leaf driver, and I asked him if he’d heard the rumour that you shouldn’t charge your car up to 100% on one of the rapid chargers (there are a few different charge speeds, you see). It’s something I was told by the customer services person when I rang up the helpline on a day a charger refused to stop charging (really reassuring). The man looked at me doubtingly and said that he hadn’t. When he left, I googled it and it really does seem to be the case that it damages your battery. I hope he looked it up later as well. I had a hot chocolate in the Starbucks, charged my phone and bought some gloves, as I forgot to pack mine. Feeling panicked about damaging the battery, I headed off at 82% charged.

Luckily, the closer I got to Bristol and my uncle’s flat, the lower the speed limit, the more traffic there was. I say lucky because driving in those circumstances uses up much less charge than going 70mph down the motorway. By 11:40 I have arrived at my final charge stop, a Bannatyne Health Club just round the corner from my final destination. I was even more happy to see that it was a simple plug in, tap your contactless card and charge jobby. You’d think that’s how all chargers are, but no. EV chargers are run by different providers, I have no less than 5 different apps on my phone plus a physical tap card, and there’s still some chargers where I have to spend ages registering on a website in order to start a charge. Mental.

I go into the health club and explain I’m not a member but would like to sit in the cafe while my car charges. I was a bit worried they would turn me away, but, just as my Zap-Map colleagues had reassured me, they asked me to sign in to a guest book and let me in. I order a tea and settle down for 20 minutes. In hindsight, during my journey to Devon and back, I think I spent almost the same amount of money on beverages and nibbles waiting for the car to charge as for the charge itself!

Anyway, all in all a smooth journey to Bristol, and I get to my uncle’s around 12:15, just in time for lunch. After a lovely afternoon taking in the sights of Bristol (managed to catch the excellent Wildlife Photography of The Year 2019 exhibition at M Shed, see below for the fun image of a shocked Himalayan marmot that won the Grand Title) and catching up with a friend over a quick drink in the evening, I go to bed early, ready for an early start in the morning.

1 note · View note

fgodestinyawakenings · 5 years

Photo

EOR Shimosa Singularity: Section 1~Section 4

Now... The first hell shall begin here. With the first quarter of Shimousa.... Can I mention again that this Singularity is still one I hated most thanks to one fucking boss here?!

Without further ado... Let’s enter the inferno... WHICH FOR SOME REASON I CAN’T POST PHOTO ON TEXT POST, SO I’M DOING THIS... WTF TUMBLR?!

Prologue

Begin somewhere in Japan of Mt. Kinbou’s Reigandou... Of an old man Musashi at his final days and hours before his passing. While waiting for a certain person to arrive, he narrates about the bloodshed life he did once known as Miyamoto Musashi.

And further laments of how his life would be different if he didn’t chose the path of Samurai. He wants more time... Which... The start of our Singularity begins

Now in Chaldea, Mash find Gudas in recalling the first New Year event that they met Miyamoto Musashi in their dreams. And then explains the reason which why DW decided to gender bend Musashi, making them completely different person.

Mash then revealed she found the Book of Five Rings written by Gudas’s historical Musashi with Chaldea Staff help. Despite seemingly human, Gudas’s noted her strength wtih any Servant they encountered and summoned. Gudas then decided to help Mash in finding out the difference between the two Musashi they learned of

Kojirou soons showed up, which made Gudas reminded of their historical connection? Though doubts are there as the Kojirou summoned in Chaldea reminds he may not be the same Kojirou that encountered Musashi.

Explaining about the Book of 5 Rings to both Mash and Gudas... The two aren’t sure about their intention to summon F!Musashi. But, she is the same case as Kojirou or similar enough...

Turns out she’s still different thanks to not reaching the final layer as stated in the book, the Book of Void. Though... As they were talking, it seems something has dragged Gudas off from Chaldea... Like the same situation with Edmond Dantes.

Remained in coma, Holmes interrogated Dantes which earned definitely a glare for accusing the same trick again. Dantes left Holmes despite claiming not to help Gudas, the two begin their own to help Gudas in this parallel world

Now that awake in a different world, Gudas finally met the same F!Musashi in their dreams or an alternate world!

Section 1

After explaining how they got here with no ways to communicate to Chaldea... Both recalled the events happened in her trial quest. And also noting that if Gudas died here, it’s safe to assume they’ll die back in Chaldea as well. Additionally, both are in the same boat with Musashi arriving recently in this strange land of “Japan”.

Both begin finding either a village or river to rest while finding way out. While walking, the two stumbled to a young girl carrying her infant sibling on her back. Conversing with Onui, Musashi vaugely guess they’ve arrived during Tokugawa Shogunate period of Japan, particularly Kazusa Province...

Or that’s what supposed to be? Now in Shimosa province, but Iemitsu’s reign? Confusing messy Singularity this is.... But before they could go Onui’s house for food.... Sky darkens, and monster begin appearing... To protect the children, Musashi faces off against 2 Assassin Ghost + 1 Saber Samurai!

The sky turns back to normal after defeating the evil spirits. Musashi then notes this world she entered seems to be the worst of all she previously entered, before joining with Onui to her house.

While heading to Onui’s house... Musashi notes once more how now “bad things” showed up whenever the sky turned dark abnormally and randomly. Again another one showed up right before Musashi’s face, pissing her off further at the Singularity’s situation

Before Gudas were about to be attacked, a mysterious monk saved them. The monk then reveals himself as a Servant with True Name of Houzouin Inshun. Houzouin wonders about Musashi’s mysterious existence after seeing her fight...

And... As expected, he doesn’t believe this is also a real Musashi. Look Houzouin, if anything, just point your spear at DW needing to fetishize every heroic spirit into female.

Right they were to go further in comparing two Musashis history... We’ve got company again. Welp, so much for having a law during Edo period. Depending either Houzouin or Musashi picked for support... Time to see who wins against 5 Assassin Evil Spirits!

And Houzouin wins the match! Or at least she hates losing, so it’s a tie? Houzouin is now convinced that F!Musashi is still the real Musashi from complicated matters.

Once explained to Houzouin from the beginning... It’s back to the same thing with Servants showing up in Singularity. Houzouin has no idea who or what has summoned him since 2 days ago.

Believed to have a Holy Grail like every Singularity, a new quest decided by Gudas to find the Grail and end this Singularity. Houzouin also then noted how M!Musashi wouldn’t help Gudas for free unlike F!Musashi decided.

But first thing first... Time to get Onui and Tasuke home safely before the next set of evil spirits showed up again.

Switching to an eerie temple.... The strange sorcerer revealed their motive of summoning 7 different Heroic Spirits in order to destroy this Singularity. Caster of Limbo also revealed of an additional Curse of Annihilation embedded in the Heroic Spirits... Which begins the plan of turning the sky to crimson

As noted that Crimson moon makes thing worse, the group quickly make haste to bring Onui and Tasuke to safety.... Which unfortunately, they got surrounded by the evil spirits.

However, with Gudas’s command seal glowing... You can now use your own Servants to fight against 5 Assassin Evil Spirits + 1 Black Saber Samurai!!

Slaying them down one by one... We’re good! Thanks to earlier fight of Musashi and Houzouin, Gudas gotten their ability back to use their Command Seal again. However, a strange Female Archer showed up and attacked the crew. Along with the six Heroic Spirit Swordmasters appearing before them...

Assassin of Paraiso, Inferno Archer, Rider of Karasutra Hell, Berserker of Samghata Hell, a mysterious Swordsman and Caster Limbo... Yep, things just perfectly turned for the worst!

Targeting Houzouin for some reason, Gudas and crew are defintely outnumbered! But reluctantly, Gudas followed Houzouin’s order of him as a decoy with his Noble Phantasm while they ran for safety.

Fighting against the swordsman alone while the rest watches... But unfortunately even with fatal blow, Houzouin lost to Saber of Empireo. Bound by Caster of Limbo’s spell... Houzouin had become one of them!!

Section 3 & 4 (DISCONTINUED)

Admittedly... I lost all that I wrote and I’m lazy to rewrite them. Because it took until my phone battery nearly died out.

But... FUCK YOU TUMBLR! So next time, it’ll be like this until tumblr settle its shit

#fgo #Fate Grand Order #the shit I shit myself into #gameplay journal #Shimosa Singularity #shimosa na #FUCK YOU TUMBLR FOR DESTROYING MY HALF WRITTEN WORK

7 notes · View notes

ahnsael · 4 years

Photo

From the Winter 1975 edition of Disney News Magazine (which I found an treasure trove of on The Internet Archive -- I’m looking for one article in particular, announcing the future arrival of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland, which was the very first thing I read on my own without my grandpa’s help when I was a wee lad and he used to read his old issues of Disney News Magazine to me, so I can re-live one of the happy memories of my childhood).

But when I ran into this during my search...I mean, I was ODV (Outdoor Vending, for the uninitiated in Disneyspeak -- good old Department 944). I worked those popcorn carts (there were ten of them during busy seasons when I was there and four during slow times, not the four-eight mentioned here), and this was before Disney had realized that feeding the birds popcorn wasn’t a good idea (even in my first time at Disney, it was okay to give a kid a small courtesy cup of popcorn for free to feed the ducks).

I’ve had all kinds of popcorn. Movie theater popcorn, those holiday tins with three different flavors of popcorn, home-popped (air or a pan with some oil) popcorn...but no popcorn I’ve ever tasted compares to Disneyland popcorn.

But my favorite part of being ex-ODV, other than having sometimes been able to sell balloons or glow necklaces (you can keep that battery-operated stuff of today), is that when I see that episode of Disney After Dark where Walt gets popcorn from one of those carts, I’VE WORKED THAT SAME CART.

Obviously, I never served Walt (he died almost eight years before I was born), but I’ve had GOOD times on those popcorn carts.

Including one of my favorite guest interactions ever, in which I met them twice over the course of five days (their daughter was sick for the intervening three days and they weren’t able to come in even though they had tickets).

The family (grandparents, parents, and the parents’ daughter) were from Washington state. They had never been to Disneyland before. I was working what, at the time, was Popcorn 4 (last I heard it’s called Popcorn 1 now, since it’s the one at Central Plaza that most people see first, in its old location where it was part of the scenery if you took a picture of Sleeping Beauty Castle from south of Central Plaza, but that may have changed since I worked there the second time). They came up to me in the morning full of questions.

I made it a habit to carry park maps in my back pocket (and, since in the Southern California Heat, I tended to sweat, I took about ten more than I thought I would need so that when I gave them a map out of my back left pocket, it wouldn’t be soaked with butt-sweat; I know, TMI, and I’m sorry, but it’s the truth).

So I gave them the map that they didn’t grab on their way in, explained everything I could to them, even wrote out an itinerary for them on the best times to hit different attractions (since those “best times” are often the same for different attractions, I encouraged them to prioritize, but also figured that since they had five days they had plenty of time to get it all in -- back then, before DCA opened, you COULD do Disneyland in one day and hit EVERY attraction if you planned it right; not sure that’s possible today).

While I talked to the parents/grandparents, I gave the daughter a free courtesy cup of popcorn to feed the ducks that ALWAYS hung around that popcorn wagen waiting for handouts or scraps.

There were two ducks there that day. She named them “Pop” and “Corn” as she fed them.

And she was better at telling them apart than I was. I just saw a couple of mallard ducks, but she recognized the differences in their markings.

So I basically helped this family plan five days in the park, detail by detail. And this was NOT an imposition on their part -- I was happy to do so. I mean, that popcorn cart gets REALLY busy at parade times and later in the day, but just after park opening it’s mostly open just for show. When the rope drops on Main Street, there aren’t exactly many people who think, “The first thing I need to do today is get popcorn!” It’s a slow time of day on that cart, and I loved helping give directions or advice or doing whatever I could to make a guest’s day better.

I gave the family my schedule for the next four days, with the caveat that schedules can be changed last minute and, while I might be scheduled to sell ice cream bars in Critter Country the next day, that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be selling churros in Tomorrowland instead.

And I really looked forward to seeing them again. They were REALLY nice people, and I wanted to be able to check up on them and see how things were going if they stopped by my carts over the next few days.

I didn’t see them for the next three days.

The last day of their vacation, I was a Lead -- which meant more time backstage, and less time onstage as I handled the paperwork end of things more than I handled the onstage end.

But it was my job that night to “close the park,” which means that I would go around to the popcorn carts (the only ones that aren’t brought back to the ODV warehouse that night) to make sure they had been properly cleaned, and to put tarps over them so the people who hose down the walkways every night wouldn’t end up spraying the collected dirt/debris onto the carts, so that they would still be clean the next day.

This night, I had just finished -- I had to wait for Control 1 (the main security office) to announce that the park was clear to the Hub (Central Plaza) and to the Hub only before I went to my last cart at Central Plaza.

I finished that (usually I used a bicycle to do this but I’d gotten an early start that night and knew that I couldn’t let guests see me on a bicycle) and as I started walking back to the office (a route that would take me from Central Plaza through Frontierland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country), I saw the family again on the bridge between Central Plaza and Frontierland.

So I stopped and checked up on them, knowing it was the end of their last day. They recognized me (which, as many thousands of people I talk to each day and how many cast members guests talk to, I was impressed both that the remembered me and that I remembered them, though I had spent more time with them than I do with the average guest so they had kind of stuck out to me more than the average “where’s the bathroom?” guests), and we talked a bit about their trip.

I started to ask about what they got to experience, but the mom quickly shushed me and explained that the daughter had been too sick to come to the park for the middle three of the five days, and that they had just been in their hotel room and were only willing to come in on Day 5 because they wanted the daughter’s last day to be a Disney experience, and not a “stuck-in-a-hotel-room” experience, and that they didn’t bring her in until late in the day because they were worried that they would make other people sick. This broke my heart. And there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

But while I talked to the mom, the daughter saw two ducks swimming in the water near the bridge, and declared that they were Pop and Corn (not gonna lie, I was kind of proud that she named them after the thing I gave her to feed them on the first day, even though now I know that feeding popcorn to ducks isn’t the best idea). I honestly have no clue whether they were the same ducks. A mallard is a mallard to my eye. But I wasn’t about to argue.I went back to what was then Popcorn 4 (leftover popcorn was left in a large plastic bag to be picked up in the morning and taken to a local food bank where it joined other leftover Disneyland food as a tax write-off donation to those who could still use it, rather than being thrown away).

I shared some history and trivia with them (at this point, including the daughter, since the mom had already told me what their experience had been like and I could tailor things to avoid asking about things like “You know that part in this ride?” to avoid having to hear the daughter say she hadn’t been on it.

Security came by on their sweep to get everyone out. Even the Main Street shops had closed at this point.

Fortunately, the guard who showed up and I had spoken several times backstage. I wouldn’t say we were friends, but we knew each other well enough to respect each other professionally. When I pulled him aside and explained the situation, and told him that I would be responsible for this family and get them out before long, but that...we needed a moment, he tipped his cap and moved on (and I did walk the family out when all was said and done to make sure they did leave and didn’t spend the night in the park, but it’s also amazing knowing that I was not only the first cast member they had a conversation with about the details of their trip, but also that I was literally the LAST cast member they spoke to AT ALL in the park...that’s still a source of pride for me something like 25 years later).

At one point during my conversation with the mom (the dad was sadly deceased), the mom literally asked me to marry her. I’m pretty sure it was meant as a joke, and that’s how I took it at the time. But it’s the only time anyone proposed to me (the one time I proposed to someone else, it ended in a Dear John email on Christmas Eve so while it gets easier 22 years later, if I’m a little short with anyone or any posts that day...it still hits me this time of year).

But this was before my actual engagement, so there was no pain at the time.

The mom gave me her number and told me to call if I was ever in Washington state so they could return the favor of showing me around.

And the thing is...I lived in Washington state for a while quite a few years after this. But while I kept the phone number for YEARS (even if, at the time, I thought of it as “saving a memory” rather than actually intending to ever call), I had lost the number in a car wreck in which my car was totaled (back when I lived in my car so literally EVERYTHING important to me had been in it and I never recovered any of it).

I don’t remember what part of Washington they were in. And we were on a first-name basis from the get-go, so there’s no looking them up now to say “Hey, I’m that Disneyland guy from 20 years or so ago, how are things?”

But I totally would have checked in had I still had their number when I was in Vancouver WA.

It’s a guest interaction that has always stuck with me, and always will. I’ve had several of those, but this is the only one that comes with regret for not keeping in touch.

#popcorn #Disneyland #cast member stories

3 notes · View notes