#am I literally SCHEDULING fun into my calendar? hell yes I am
Text
I just added a section named “FUN THINGS” to my 2023 digital planner.
There is hope for this year.
#am I literally SCHEDULING fun into my calendar? hell yes I am#fandom things — yep#gaming and tv and fun books — yep#also — my digital planner for this year#has dedicated space for tracking media consumed and writing mini-reviews of it#plus forms for tracking challenges (such as fandom challenges)
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ruin Me
Quick little reader insert imagine based off this post. Based off a non-ask...
*Update: Now a full length story! Check out Masterlist for my chapters?*
Pairing: CEO! Henry Cavill x Female! Reader
Rating: M
Warnings: Power imbalance, dom! Henry, sub! reader, fingering, dirty talk...
Song choice: Funny How Time Flies- Meshell Ndegeocello
PART 2 HERE
“ Y/N can you bring me a cup of coffee...please.”
His voice wasn’t raised but his tone told you all you needed to know.
He was not happy. Not happy at all.
He had called you from the phone in his office, not even bothering to call through the door or better yet come to the door himself which he usually did when he needed something from you and was in a good mood. You don’t dwell on it much and you get to your feet, and hustle over to break room to make a fresh pot of coffee.
It doesn’t take long; you wait the ten minutes to brew, taking note that your coworkers are packing up for the night. You look at the clock and realize you better do the same.
Although you have nowhere special to be the last thing you wanted to do on a Friday night was spend more time at the office. You didn’t complain much, the job wasn’t had for you. You hadn’t been with the company long but you were sure you liked it thus far.
You were Executive Assistant to the CEO of Cavill Industries. a company he started with his brothers years ago and had grown to be a world wide force. Henry Cavill may not have been the eldest brother but he certainly was the most determined and invested of the 5 and more so than any man you had met. This was why they made him the CEO.
You also thought that had something to do with the fact that he honestly was the best looking brother out of all of them.
The face of the company.
He had to stand out in a crowd, oh and Henry Cavill certainly did.
You could admit to no one but yourself that you had found him extremely attractive during your third and final interview where you finally got to meet him. If he wasn’t your boss, he would be exactly the type of guy you went for in terms of looks. Tall, dark curly hair, a jawline that could cut glass, dazzling smile and sharp blue eyes that seemed to pinpoint everything
Including any mistakes you made.
He had made adjusting to this new job hard for you.
Pointing out every mistake, forcing you to redo whole reports that people who got paid a lot more than you should have been doing
But nooooo
He ‘trusted ‘ a.k.a could hover over you while you fixed it.’ causing more late nights and overtime than you cared to think about.
Forget a social life, everything had to be about him.
You had to be everything.
In your job interview nobody had mentioned you would be basically in charge of his life.
Dry Cleaning, arranging his groceries to be delivered, you were even his dog walker on the days he brought his cute Akita Kal-El to the office.
Yea that was totally fun in the heels he forced you into everyday.
You had tried wearing respectable flats after your first week with sore feet and he vetoed that almost immediately.
Saying it wasn’t “seemly“ and that you were the assistant to the CEO and you should dress like it. Needless to say half of the time you wanted to slap him. The other time you were ridiculously turned on. I mean despite being an ass sometimes he played right into your masochistic streak. The way he spoke to you, wasn’t nasty but it had a very direct way that left no room for arguing or confusion. Just like with the heels. You normally would have argued your point, maybe even seen if he would come to some sort of compromise but you didn’t with him. You just kept the flats in your car and a pair under your desk for when you were sitting at your desk and for the days he was out of office.
That sort of sneaky was not like you at all. You just preferred to pull off the band-aid so to speak, but Mr. Cavill was not for any of that.
All you said to him when the response he wanted was obvious was a yes sir or no sir.
You made his coffee just as he liked two cubes of sugar, and a splash of cream. He always would like three extra cubes of sugar on the side, adding the extras depending on how his day had been going. The more sugar added the better his day. You walk as smooth as you can to his office, the large dark door. You don’t bother to knock, sliding open the door to his office, begging your heels not to catch on the floor. You sit his coffee on the desk, to his right, and far enough from his hand that he doesn’t accidentally knock it over.
You smooth out your black mid length dress, and try not to fidget with your red belt that gives a retro theme to the look, and you even had a red purse and red blazer to wear with it (which you had ditched mid-morning). You slip back out the door when he doesn’t look at you. You pick up the tablet you use to keep track of everything on a mobile basis. You pull up his calendar and head back into the large office.
The office itself had never intimidated you despite the large solid oak desk in the middle of the room. It felt open because of the floor to ceiling windows that had automatic curtains that came down on command. You actually loved his office despite the fact that you didn't spend a lot of time in it. You re-enter his office, and stand in front of the desk looking down at the calendar.
“Okay before the day ends I would like to go over your schedule for the weekend.”
He finally looked up at you, his blue eyes giving direct contact, that you couldn’t hold and went back to the glowing tablet, where the sun was starting to set outside.
“You have a dinner meeting tonight which starts at 6:30pm; a 30 minute commute time which means you need to be out of here in the next 45 minutes, if you would like to arrive with your 15 minute grace period as normal.”
He doesn’t say anything at first, then takes off the reading glasses off his face and tosses them on the desk.
“Continue.”
“ Not too many things on the agenda for this weekend except for family brunch on Sunday. Your mother requests you arrive on time this time.”
You regulate a smirk to the side of your mouth.
“I’ve arranged for a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to your house by 9am for you to take over there to her.”
“I don’t suppose I have any missed messages from today?”
You look at him confused.
“Ummm....no. Were you expecting a call?”
He sighs and rubs the temples of his head, clearly upset something.
“No...yes...don’t worry about it. You’ve already arranged for a car for me?”
Yep, he was upset and he was not about to share it with you. You didn’t press him, only prayed it didn’t result in a hell of a clean-up for you later. You had been the bad guy with no less than 4 woman, all of them glaring and spiting nasty vitriol at you when you wouldn’t give them access to Henry. You had seen them all come and go.
“Yes.”
He looks you over, getting to his feet, walking over to the door you knew to be an en-suite bathroom and keeping his extra changes of clothes.
“ Do you have any plans for tonight?”
He asks you suddenly and puts you on the spot. You don’t even have a lie to cover up how pitiful your life was, but you had to try. He didn’t need to know you don’t have anything planned tonight but a glass of wine and catching up on your TV shows you missed for all the overtime you’ve been working.
“Yes.”
“Like what?”
He asks almost immediately as if knowing you were lying. You had to try and get out of some crazy overtime he was known for. You didn’t want another late night in the office.
“Ummm...”
As noted earlier you didn’t think well on the spot. He raises an eyebrow at you.
“You know I don’t appreciate liars Y/N. Anyhow if you are done lying to me, the meeting for tonight requires a...feminine touch.”
“Feminine touch?”
You echo. He goes into the closet and you can hear him changing. You try not to think about him behind the wall.
“Yes. The people I am meeting with require a bit of finesse. The negotiations always go better when we bring our women to the meetings.”
“Soo... would you like me to call someone for you. I can have a dress sent over in their size to smooth the deal over.”
He laughs at you.
“No. Grab your things and call the car service to get here in 10 minutes.”
“ What stop the press? Are you putting me out of the office before you for once?”
You quip at him. He comes from around the corner his attire changed into a black button down shirt, left with the top few unbuttoned. He adjusts the sleeves and looks up with you.
“No you are going with me Y/N and we must hurry, you are going to require another dress.”
“But...”
“No buts. I need you and you are wasting time.”
He picks up a black suit jacket, his cologne hitting you with an umpf he walks by you to get to the car...
*********
The dinner had gone great from what you could tell. You saw a whole other side of Henry. One that was only observed under the rarest of occasions.
At least for you.
Overall you weren’t asked for much, Henry had bought you another black dress only this one was a bit more leggy than you were used to around such important people. Its spaghetti strapped and sweetheart neckline, offering way more cleavage than you would ever consider wearing around him, but Henry had literally come in with you, pulling it from the rack along with a few other choices and this was the tamest all the options he left you. You damn near had a panic attack in the dressing room. The women in the boutique had fixed your hair and makeup in the little amount of time you had, once again at Henry’s behest. You hadn’t be so pulled together since... well you couldn’t remember....
Henry had even been nice to you all evening, but you knew it was all an act, even if your body did respond to the compliments and lingering looks, the smile he would shoot you, he had even let his hands skim across your lower back.
You did your best not to read into anything. Had even gone along with the little game he was playing, being over sweet, playing with the curls on the nape of his neck, your hands lingering on his arms. Enough to suggest without being outwardly desperate and trashy. You were ever the smiling damsel to his associates, laughing at the jokes, ignoring the sexist comments about your dress or the ‘arm candy’ they referred to you as, despite it pissing you off.
You stayed to yourself most for the ride back to the office, and he stays quiet as well. Only then once the car parks do you realize in your haste earlier you left your keys upstairs. He insists he needs to come up as well to grab some files from his desk. You offer to bring them back down but he insists. You scurry to your desk, not finding them in the drawer where you usually kept your purse.
You don’t see them. You panic and look for them intensely.
Oh you hoped you didn’t leave them at the boutique where you changed dresses.
“Y/N. Could you come in here please? I would like to discuss something with you before you leave.”
He calls to you, the voice losing the soft tone he had with you all night, this only serves to make your blood run cold. Have you done something wrong? Said the wrong thing to the wrong person and cost him millions of dollars? You needed your job, and hoped pretty badly that this wasn’t the end of it.
You honestly couldn’t tell if you missed it or not. You disregard the thoughts you are having and push them back in your mind, offering to sort them out later. Preferably with alcohol nearby. You look into his office and see that he is standing behind his desk. Once you come in, thinking he needed something from you.
“Close the door.”
You close the door behind you, the lights on a dim shade, enough for you to see but not enough to over power your eyes.
“Did you need anything from me, because it’s late and I should be heading home...”
He surprises you by cutting you off in a tone that was even softer than any other time he had used with you before.
“I just wanted to say thank you for accompanying me tonight y/n.”
“You are Welcome. I’m just going to go...”
You smile and turn to leave but his voice stops you with a sharp tone that makes you freeze.
“Did I say you could leave?”
You feel your face get hot and you turn back around to face him. The lighting only showcasing the angles of his face, making you ever more nervous.
“No but Sir it's 12am...”
“I know what time it is. You are so stubborn all the time. Can’t even take a simple compliment.”
“I thought you were done.”
You shrug, and immediately regret being so nonchalant with him., his gaze intense.
“I wasn’t. Now before you interrupted me, I was saying thank you not only because you came with me but for playing your role so effortlessly. I didn’t expect you to be so ...reciprocating to me.”
“I figured that would be best. How would it appear if you showed up with a staff member we rather than a significant other like the other at the table.”
“Well your quick and astute observation saved me tonight.”
“All in a day's work. Now if I can just get out of these heels tonight and maybe into a pedicure tomorrow I will have made this all worth while.”
He surprises you by coming from behind the desk where he had been standing, coming to stand in front of you.
And you cursed yourself because it was back again.
The arousal you fought with every lingering look and touch he gave you tonight. How honeyed his words were with you, combined with the animalistic power you knew was just boiling under the surface.
“I have had many secretaries before and none of them take your position as seriously as you do. You put a lot of effort into your job and does not go unnoticed.”
Having him so close was unnerving. Especially when you had his direct attention. You can’t hold eye contact and look down at the floor. Henry touches your chin, his fingers tilt your chin up and you lock eyes. It wasn’t the first time you noticed the space of brown in his left eye, but the first time you were close enough to appreciate it.
You feel your pulse quickening.
“I don’t think I told you how beautiful you look tonight.”
He blinks slowly and you don’t breathe at all as his lips move toward your own. He is seconds away from kissing you, tension heavy in the room.
“Wait....Henry...I just...I Can’t go there.”
You say it out loud and it’s like someone let the air out of your balloon. He lets your face go and looks at you confused, for the first time you see just Henry. Not your boss, not the CEO who always had to be ‘on’ and in charge, you just saw Henry. His face was open and unguarded.
“It’s not that I don’t want you. It’s just you are my boss...”
Henry moves suddenly, and yet simultaneously time slows as he crashes his lips onto yours. The odd duality of soft, yet firm, calming yet passionate overtakes your mind and short circuits you. His hands are holding the side of your face on one side and behind your neck. His kiss steals what little breath you had away. You almost forget why this would have been such a bad idea but he pulls away.
“Darling, Didn’t anyone tell you? The boss makes the rules...”
He resumes kissing you and you offer little in the way of resistance as he picks you up, in fact you lock your legs around his waist and he deposits you on top of his desk. Everything you had been feeling for him was bubbling up in that moment. You were caught in being wanted to be treated like silk and wanting to toss him down and take exactly what you wanted in no uncertain terms of hatefucking him for all the jackass behavior he had exhibited since you started 6 months ago.
You slide his jacket off his broad shoulders, tossing it to the room, igniting the soft thud it makes when the expensive thing lands in a heap on the floor. He pulls your hips toward the edge of the desk and his large hands are hot as they slide up your skirt over trembling thighs and his lips move to your neck. He finds the sensitive spots there quicker than anyone ever had while also moving his fingers to play with your clit through the lining of the black lace panties you were wearing.
Your breath hitches in your throat and Henry grins against your lips, letting you take a second before he kisses you again. His fingers dance around before latching to the hemline and yanking them with enough force that they are torn from your body. Your hips sting from the pull, but you are more than turned on. You fumble with the buttons on his shirt, and don’t look at the skin revealed, but he doesn’t let you take it off him and instead pushes one of his fingers inside of you, you lewdly moan, and grasp his biceps quickly, having been taken off guard. It wasn’t that you weren’t wet, because you were plenty wet, your now ruined panties had been testament to that, but you had expected more of a playful teasing, but as one of your last coherent thoughts, you knew this man never wasted time.
He was a do-er...
And right now he was doing you. The amount of focus and precision he took in his work, pouring over contracts, logs, inventory and the like, he was putting in on you. As his finger moves in and out he is staring at you with such intensity you think you might explode.
“You are dripping baby girl. Melting right into the palm of my hand to be exact.”
He removes the finger that had been inside of you, raising it to his lips, tasting you from it, and you shudder. He kisses you again, you closing your eyes, then you hear in his deep tone like melted chocolate, luxurious to your ears,
“Open your eyes and suck them.”
He held two of his fingers and you opened your mouth. He wanted to hold your gaze.
“Get them nice and wet for me.”
You suck on them, imaging the girth that had been teasing you for months in his sacks, was what was actually in your mouth. You had wanted so badly to taste him and feel him you reach down, palming his obvious erection and you hear him growl. It was your turn to smirk, and as soon as he felt that smirk, he pulled his two fingers from your mouth and thrusts them into you.
You whimper and the one hand you left on his bicep clenched in, digging into his skin. His fingers glide in and out almost painfully slow. You need faster.You try to move your hips to make him move but he chuckles.
“That won’t work y/n. We do this at my pace. Be still or I will stop.”
He didn’t go any faster, his movements deliberately slow. You could tell he was getting a kick out this, and you whine again.
“Beg kitten.”
He whispers in your ear, his thumb teasing your clit again.
“Please.”
He moves a little faster.
“Come on love. You can do better than that.” Teasing.
“Please Henry...”
He slaps your thigh with a sharp tap and it sends the zing of arousal.
“That's not what you call me. Try again.”
While your brain is shorting out, you fumble on what he wants from you.
“I..i don’t know sir...”
He rewards you by speeding up more. Your torso drops backwards, your head follows as you rest back on your elbows, and legs move wider, making your dress bunch up around your hips.
“There you go. There’s what I was looking for. Now beg me to make you come.”
You worry your bottom lip, ignoring how your chest heaves, pulling against the black fabric of the dress.
“Fuck! Please sir please let me cum.”
“That’s more like it. Begging me like the dirty little slut you are.”
He speeds up, his fingers curling inside, tapping that spongy space that made your eyes cross and your vision blur. You didn’t think you would like being called a ‘little slut’ but it was more of a turn on than you had ever thought it would be.
“Sir let me cum please let me cum.”
His dexterous fingers speed up, his thumb rubbing your clit and you were glad no one else was in the office as your moans echo throughout the room.
“You want to be my good girl hmmm?”
You nod furiously, the edge of your orgasm coming up rapidly, as your walls begin their tell-tell sign of fluttering.
“Good girls wait until they have permission. You hold it.”
It was damn near impossible, but you try to focus on anything but how good his fingers feel. He pulls your body back up from the desk with his hand gripping behind your neck. His lips crash on your again, he lingers around your lips you breathe heavily against his lips.
“I’ll be your good girl!”
You yell.
“Good. Cum then come for me.”
It’s like the world goes silent and all you can focus on is his fingers as your orgasm pulls you under. It’s an out of body experience where you could hear your moans and groans of Henry’s name, where you were literally shaking, but you could bring yourself down. Destroyed, Henry is whispering praises in your ear. Calling you his and how good you were for him. It doesn’t take long to come back down, but when you do you feel wrung out, and as Henry pulls away, you notice the sheen of fine layered sweat on his forehead. You feel self conscious as he stares down at you, and without the haze of lust in your eyes it settles in you that your boss just gave you one of the best orgasms of your life and hadn’t even taken off his pants.
Pants that were currently begging you to be taken off. He begins to chuckle and you realize you’ve been staring at his cock outline, and he was laughing at you. He unbuttons his pants, and finally takes off his shirt the rest of the way, finally revealing the god sculpted body that he clearly worked for.
The look on his face says he is going to ruin you and you are going to like it.
Only then, as he begins to work on the zipper to your dress, do you look to your left on the desk and see your keys sitting there...
***************
A/n: Hope that was what you were looking for @thiccgeralt Hope this met your expectations and thank you!
I am thinking of coming back to this, but honestly I am waiting until @laketaj24 finishes her CEO! fic The Rules, because its so freaking wonderful and I don’t want to ruin anything by stealing any thunder with a CEO fic OR Ficlet I would plan on doing. BTW if you haven’t read The Rules then please do yourself a favor a go over to her page and check out all of her work. You will not regret a second of it....
However I am tossing this out to see if there would be any interest in a continuation of this fic. Let me know and as always thank you for reading, re-blogging, and liking!
Henry Cavill Taglist: (OPEN! Let me know if this is something you want on!
@msblkfire84 @magdelen69
711 notes
·
View notes
Text
Three Days ~ 81
~*~Emma~*~
I loved everything about the calendar Claire had laid out. She was attentive to Sebastian’s schedule and had taken what we wanted to do and made suggestions. On days we stayed in the city there was a combination of guided and free time. We were set up to avoid lines, with Claire assuring us our guide would provide direction and disappear. I literally wanted to get lost. I think that is the only way to find local treasures. I liked to get away from tourist areas. Paris had a good metro system. Picking a direction and hopping off when we saw something interesting would be fun.
We took the elevator down with Claire. She would make our requested changes and arrange everything. We'd have our finalized itinerary when we returned tonight. At her suggestion we reserved a table for seven at a small brasserie. Directions were simple: head south to cross the Seine then west, and the place was a block past the Port Alexandre III bridge. It was half hour walk and took us along the Tuileries Gardens. It also took us by Chanel, Fendi, Louboutin, Atelier, and Valentino. The last being the only place we did more than window shop. Valentino was the show Sebastian was invited to attend. I suspected invited really meant paid to attend. I wasn't going to the show, but I would meet him after for the party. Sebastian would be dressed for the event and looked around to see what he might wear.
Sebastian kept his eye on the time as we strolled hand in hand along the Seine. There were several dinner boats docked along the shore. We found the one we’d be on tomorrow. A dinner cruise at sunset sounded very romantic. Honestly, there wasn't much in Paris that didn't sound romantic. I’m sure some is subconscious with the stereotype of Paris as the City of Love. However, walking over the Port Alexandre III bridge, along the Seine, and sitting down at a table on a cobblestone sidewalk is unarguably romantic.
Looking at his empty wine glass, Sebastian mussed, "French wine tastes better in France."
"It does." I swirled the last bit in my glass, watching the motion of the deep red liquid. "I imagine it’s the combination of food, smell, and ambiance."
Sebastian leaned across the table for a kiss, "And the company."
"Thank you for bringing me along."
"No one I'd rather be with. Anywhere." He took my hand, "If we weren't here, we'd be together in New York."
"It's better to be here."
"Yes," his eyes sparkled with laughter, "it's better to be here." He paid our check and put his arm around me as we walked in the opposite direction from the hotel. I really needed a map, but Sebastian seemed to know where he was going. I was fine to follow along.
A few blocks Later Sebastian squeezed me a little tighter, "Curious?"
"Enjoying the journey." I stroked his side, "Where are you taking me?'
"Someplace I'm told has a beautiful view. I wouldn't know personally, but I have faith."
We came out from buildings to the edge of a greenspace. To the north was a clear view. "La Tour Eiffel." I knew maybe two dozen French words and just used three of them. We walked to the center of the park where a path led to and set up the perfect view. I stopped, turning in to hold onto him. "A very romantic view of the Eiffel Tower at sunset. People will talk."
Sebastian kissed me, our lips parting just enough for a taste. "They're really going to have something to talk about then. Because we'll be enjoying a very romantic sunset view from the second level of La tour Eiffel."
My eyes widened.
"Sunsets are magic. Where else would you and I spend our first sunset in Paris?"
"Good point. You've been plotting." I wrapped my arms around his as we walked.
"Oh Emma, I am always plotting ways to make you smile."
We climbed the stairs to the second level. I was never more thankful for my trips to the gym and running. Claire had told Sebastian the view was better here. The summit was gorgeous, but it was too high to make out the landmarks. We wandered around looking at the view of the city, pointing out where we'd walked, and places we wanted to go. We hung out on the west side of the tower until some people left the railing to head to the top. The view as the sun started to sink was incredible. Clouds had moved in and were giving the pink purple sky texture. Sebastian was pressed against me with his arms wrapped around mine. He kissed the side of my neck, “Feels a little familiar.”
Indeed, it did. Our first kiss started like this. I turned my head enough for him to kiss me, “Almost as perfect.”
Sebastian laid his cheek against mine where we were sharing the same view. “I was so nervous that night.”
“Nervous now?”
“Nope.” He gave me a tight squeeze and kissed by my ear. “I knew you were important, but I never imagined you’d mean as much to me as you do.”
I turned to the side and pulled him around where the sunset was beside us. I smiled, laying my hand over his heart.
Sebastian pulled his head back, “You look like you’re about to cry.”
I shrugged, “Could happen. I’m in Paris, on the Eiffel Tower at sunset, with you telling me how much you love me.”
“I never said those words.”
“You didn’t have to.” I pressed my lips to his, keeping one hand on his chest, the other holding on around his neck. “Te ador, Sebasti-an. Însemni atat de mult pentru mine.” <I adore you. You mean everything to me>. My vocabulary was limited, but the words didn’t matter as much as him feeling them.
“Ești ca soarele. Mă țineți cald, luminați-mi lumea și aduceți bucurie.Nu vreau să-mi imaginez viața fără tine în ea. Te iubesc din toată inima, Emiliana.”
See, I didn’t understand all those words, but I sure as hell felt them all the way to my toes. Translation would have to wait. I wanted to kiss him in a way that wasn’t approriate for standing on a balcony with other people around. I kept myself in check, while still getting the contact I wanted.
Sebastian put his mouth close to my ear and whispered, “You are like sunshine. You keep me warm, brighten my world, and bring me joy. I dont want to imagine my life without you. I love you with all my heart, Emiliana.”
We kissed again. A little longer. A little deeper. I laid my head on his chest. I don't even know if I have the words to explain how I was feeling. Words didn't come close to covering it. Happy, cherished, safe, loved. None were enough. I felt everything.
"Hey, we need a picture." Sebastian's voice had brought my attention to him, but done nothing to break what I was feeling. He had his phone out and we turned our backs to the sunset.
There was an older couple behind, now in front, of us. The man held out his hand and spoke with a French accent. "I would be happy to take the picture for you."
"Merci." Sebastian handed over his phone.
The woman looked at me after her partner gave Sebastian his phone back. "What language where you speaking?"
"Romanian."
"Ah." She smiled, "I do not know what you were saying, but the moment felt romantic."
Sebastian and I laughed, saying "Sorry" at the same time.
"Non, never apologize for others feeling your love. It's a wonderful thing."
We thanked them again and seeing how short the line for the elevator was we went up. It seemed a shame to not make out in the dark at the top of the Eiffel Tower. We weren't the only ones with that idea.
Finding a cab was as easy as in New York and we were back at the hotel in twenty minutes. We picked up our itinerary before heading to our room. A few steps into the room I smelled roses. They were for Sebastian. Valentino had sent them, a bottle of champagne, and fresh strawberries as a welcome.
Sebastian popped a strawberry in his mouth, "Terrace?"
I nodded and pointed to the bedroom, "I'll meet you out there." I quickly washed my face, brushed my hair, and changed into a simple sea green silk chemise with a drape front.
There were two doors leading to the terrace. Sebastian would be on the sitting room side, so I went out the bedroom door. Sebastian had set the champagne and strawberries on the table. He was at the railing, leaning onto his elbows. He looked relaxed with his hands held in front of him and one of his long legs bent. He made my mouth water.
I don't know if he was deep in thought or chose not to look over, but he didn't until I ran my hand down his back, leaving it to rest at the base of his spine.
Sebastian's eyebrows shot up when he looked over, "Ooof. Wow." I saw him swallow hard as he stood up. "You are sexy." He stepped closer, sliding his hand around from my waist to bring us together. The way he looked at me was full of desire.
"I'm sorry you had to bring me all the way to Paris for you to get lingerie." He undoubtedly appreciated the effort.
He shook his head, "I have no complaints about how you come to me."
My knees nearly buckled. How I come to him. Jesus. I looked up, mouth open with a slight smile, "I love you."
He just grinned. "I love you."
I felt the touch of his hand on my face before I felt his mouth against mine. His open mouth matched mine, our tongues meeting immediately with restrained hunger.
Sebastian's thumb ran over my lip. He tilted his head toward the table, "Champagne?"
"Yes, please."
His eyes moved down my body again before turning away to pour. He brought the glasses to me at the railing, "What shall we drink to?"
I looked up, licking my lips, teasing him. "A perfect first day in Paris with my love."
"And a perfect night to come."
We touched glasses and drank. There were lights along the center path of the gardens and accent lights shining up into flowering bushes.
"It's beautiful down there."
Sebastian brought my hand to his mouth. Soft lips and the briefest touch of tongue. "It's beautiful up here too."
He led me to the table, sitting on the nearest chair and pulling me onto his lap. His patience lasted as long as it took him to finish his champagne. Setting his glass on the table he took my glass and put it next to his. His hand went to my neck to pull me closer. Instead of kissing my lips he went for my neck.
I sighed contentedly with the feel of his warm mouth on my neck. Soft kisses were interspersed with licks and gentle pulls at my skin. The hand around my waist held on loosely while his other hand supported my head. His hair was shorter, but still long enough to run my fingers through. I felt him react to my nails against his scalp. That brought his attention from my neck to my mouth. Touch changed from static to freely roaming over the clothes. I'd never tire of touching him. Or being touched by him.
Sebastian came up for air. I mapped his neck with my mouth. He smoothed up the silk to cup my breast, his thumb rubbing back and forth over my nipple. I sucked his earlobe into my mouth, grazing it with my teeth as I let him go. "Je veux te faire l'amour."
He mumbled, "I something something love."
"I want to make love with you."
"You learned this where?"
I gave him a half smile, "There are literally French people everywhere."
"Meaning you asked the nice lady at the Eiffel Tower."
"She was in the bathroom. She thought you were tres bon and suggested "je veux te baiser", I want to fuck you."
He grimaced and shook his head.
"I also know kiss me, I just want to suck your cook, and please, lick me."
"You've got us covered." He dipped his head to leave a wet spot from him sucking my nipple. "You pick up languages easily."
"I have a good memory"
"Say the first thing again."
"Je veux te faire l'amour." I scraped my nails along his beard.
"Me too."
I stood up, taking the hand that was on my breast, and led him into the bedroom.
This was a quiet night. I did get to use a few of my new words. Whispered in the dark. Caresses and kisses stayed light. Tender. We knew how to touch, how to taste, and how bring pleasure with both. We didn't need words. Sighs and quiet moans were enough to encourage and appreciate. After our bodies were sated, we laid in each other’s arms with more soft kisses and quiet words. I lost track of how many times we said I love you, or maybe it was all feeling and my mind heard the unspoken words.
I laid with my head on his shoulder, my hand on his chest with one of his covering it. His fingers played over the skin on my arm. My breathing synchronized with the rise and fall of his chest. I was almost asleep. When Sebastian's lips touched my forehead, "I want to feel like this always."
"Mmm, Ok, we'll do that."
"You gonna put it on our to do list?"
I looked up and stretched to reach his lips, "I've got it covered."
"That's my girl." The emotion in his face told me he'd felt his words.
I put my hand on his face, "Always."
3 notes
·
View notes
Note
for the 200 ask thingy, i actually dare you to do all of them. :D
delgaskarthalexhere we go, anon:
200: My crush’s name is: I don’t have one right now, I don’t get them often (if I ever had a crush at all)
199: I was born in: 2003
198: I am really: A 2005 emo kid x a 2008 scene kid x a 2014 tumblr fangirl x Kyle himself
197: My cellphone company is: Apple
194: My ring size is: Honestly? No idea. Propose to me with a sword.
193: My height is: Somewhere between 5′7″ and 5′8″
192: I am allergic to: Nothing I’m aware of
191: My 1st car was: 94 Station Wagon, by request
190: My 1st job was: being this funny is a full-time gig
189: Last book you read: Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
188: My bed is: “made”
187: My pet: I have a cat, I love her very much and I will show her to you if you dm me a cursed image
186: My best friend: We don’t use “best friend” for personal reasons, but they’ve been with me since I was 5 so, my one and only Bro
185: My favorite shampoo is: anything with “silky smooth” or “strawberries” on the bottle. i’m not that picky anymore.
184: Xbox or ps3: xbox or ps4 xbox
183: Piggy banks are: really useful
182: In my pockets: wallet, keys, phone, earbuds, black pen/pencil, earplugs, mini flashlight
181: On my calendar: i’m meeting a friend for smoothies tomorrow
180: Marriage is: something we shouldn’t push so much onto people. it’s a declaration of love, not an end-all fix-all to your life. i can’t ever see myself getting married but who knows!
179: Spongebob can: continue to be a relevant meme
178: My mom: i mean. we function. i can’t really complain about my family at large but i am defiantly looking forward to living literally as far away from them as i can.
177: The last three songs I bought were? psh, you think i pay for music? (folie a deux, lake effect kid, believers never die volume two) (those are albums but its okay)
176: Last YouTube video watched: I watched Markiplier play Uno
175: How many cousins do you have? 11? 12? I lost count
174: Do you have any siblings? I have a brother
173: Are your parents divorced? Nope!
172: Are you taller than your mom? Yes, I have been for a while
171: Do you play an instrument? dude HECK yeah! i vibe on piano, guitar, ukulele, clarinet, and im a drum major
170: What did you do yesterday? I went on a drive by myself.
[ I Believe In ]
169: Love at first sight: Nope.
168: Luck: Yes, but luck is something that can be engineered
167: Fate: To an extent
166: Yourself: I’d say overall, yeah. I still have doubts tho
165: Aliens: Mmmmmm yeah
164: Heaven: Yes
163: Hell: Yes
162: God: Yeup
161: Horoscopes: without an ounce of truth, they would have died a long time ago
160: Soul mates: the greeks had seven words for love. i think we have multiple soul mates to fit each of those categories. there are definitely people we’re just meant to vibe with
159: Ghosts: i want to say yes but i really dont know
158: Gay Marriage: yes. its 2020. grow up.
157: War: in theory? no. war is kinda messed up. in reality? not everyone is going to be down to nice diplomatic conflict resolution, and not everyone is just gonna leave people *countries* they don’t like alone, so...
156: Orbs: ??? energies are real
155: Magic: vibes are real
[ This or That ]
154: Hugs or Kisses: hugs
153: Drunk or High: i am a child of jesus
152: Phone or Online: online
151: Red heads or Black haired: irdc but black hair bc i am Emo
150: Blondes or Brunettes: blonde?? ig?? easier to dye
149: Hot or cold: hot weather + cold rooms
148: Summer or winter: summer
147: Autumn or Spring: autum (screw spring)
146: Chocolate or vanilla: vanilla
145: Night or Day: night
144: Oranges or Apples: oranges (better to share with homies)
143: Curly or Straight hair: i dont care but curly
142: McDonalds or Burger King: mcdonald give iced coffee
141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: dark chocolate
140: Mac or PC: pc for vidgya gaemes
139: Flip flops or high heals: ...converse. please. i cant walk properly in either of those
138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: sweet and poor
137: Coke or Pepsi: pepsi
136: Hillary or Obama: this is kinda outdated but obama
135: Burried or cremated: cremated i aint watch spn for nothin
134: Singing or Dancing: singing. at least that gets better with practice
133: Coach or Chanel: chanel (thank u mr frank ocean and also the neighborhood)
132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: whomst
131: Small town or Big city: big city and if you say small town you’ve never lived in a small town
130: Wal-Mart or Target: target
129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: who tf is this
128: Manicure or Pedicure: idk dude probably pedicure i don’t like people touching my hands and i use them for too much to get my nails done
127: East Coast or West Coast: hnngggggggg west coast has more to do but east coast has better beaches and
126: Your Birthday or Christmas: birthday
125: Chocolate or Flowers: chocolate bc then i can give u some
124: Disney or Six Flags: ive only been to disney so disney (though i AM a HARDCORE rollercoaster stan so it wouldnt take much for me to say six flags)
123: Yankees or Red Sox: what
[ Here’s What I Think About ]
122: War: unfortunately sometimes necessary but not as a first resort i went over this already
121: George Bush: is that the shoe guy?
120: Gay Marriage: be gay. do crime. kiss wife. or husband. or partner. basically, hell yeah
119: The presidential election: america need 2 b single and focus on herself
118: Abortion: pro-choice and that choice should be made by the one carrying the baby
117: MySpace: tumblr’s dad
116: Reality TV: don’t talk to about abt this
115: Parents: disgusting. go to therapy.
114: Back stabbers: if you’re gonna stab me in the back, pull my lungs through my ribcage bc that’s what my ancestor’s ghosts are gonna do to you (thanks great (x a few times) grandma viking ily thanks for the hair:) )
113: Ebay: good for merch and selling books
112: Facebook: zuck my dick, data-theif
111: Work: i like doing work? like- i enjoy completing tasks and seeing my hard work pay off? it’s not that bad?
110: My Neighbors: old. boring. want me to babysit for free.
109: Gas Prices: i cant really complain rn they’re kinda low and im a little broke so
108: Designer Clothes: i vibe to them, honestly
107: College: not for everyone but definitely for me
106: Sports: marching band is a sport marching band is a sport marching band is a sport marching band is a sport marching band is a sport but only technically speaking though you can make fair comparisons to sports such as cheer, and gymnastics where the idea is to put on a show and receive a score in the form of competition.
105: My family: disgusting
104: The future: the future doesn’t exist
[ Last time I ]
103: Hugged someone: god, don’t ask me this
102: Last time you ate: uhhh like 9 hours ago? it was dinner and i had pizza
101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: three or four weeks ago by best bro came to visit and we vibed
100: Cried in front of someone: i finished twist and shout at school at the end of a very bad week. it was only a few tears but that’s as close as i get to crying
99: Went to a movie theater: whenever the last star wars movie came out
98: Took a vacation: last year i went to dc over summer break to see the Smithsonian, it was a lot of fun. i was supposed to go to altanta and florida this year but that didn’t happen for reasons
97: Swam in a pool: last week
96: Changed a diaper: never
95: Got my nails done: never
94: Went to a wedding: its been at least 6 years dude
93: Broke a bone: never, somehow
92: Got a peircing: nope
91: Broke the law: technically, yesterday. 55 is too slow
90: Texted: just now
[ MISC ]
89: Who makes you laugh the most: the person in my snap named “junior”
88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: my cat
87: The last movie I saw: probably into the spiderverse
86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: things going back to normal. or somewhat normal. i need school to have a schedule bc i absolutely cannot force myself to function without outside influence
85: The thing im not looking forward to: ironically, school in the fall. the way we’re going back is going to wreck me more than lockdown already has
84: People call me: i only ft one of my bros and they know who tf they are if you ask to ft you’re getting fuckin blocked mate i dont do that shit video calls are for WORK and SCHOOL thats IT. but ppl call me by my nickname irl, i go by screech on here.
83: The most difficult thing to do is: listen to my parent’s political opinions? live in a small town? force myself to be productive without a physical influence and reminder? put up with that one dude?
82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: nope
81: My zodiac sign is: scoprio/leo/gemini
80: The first person i talked to today was: the potential bassist for our potential band?
79: First time you had a crush: uhh im still not sure if it was a crush but i wanted them to myself and they wanted (and got) someone better. we were just friends so it doesn’t really matter
78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: the person on snap named “the great oracle”
77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: yesterday, it was my brother
76: Right now I am talking to: in order of snap names, “vibin ~[^.^]~”, “russian umbrella”, and “mom” (not really)
75: What are you going to do when you grow up: hopefully, a job that makes me happy
74: I have/will get a job: as soon as i know what’s going on with school. but like as an adult? wherever will hire me and pay my fairly. being a barista would be fun, but at a local place (not in my current town)
73: Tomorrow: ???? time for bad poetry: tomorrow i will see my friend/ admist this lasting chaos/ we will be each other’s solitude/ while sharing fruity drinks/ and when we both come home/ a smile we will bring
72: Today: idk what this means so more poetry: today i will be sleep deprived as always/ i will think of them and weep/ but no tears will fall from my eyes/ for i know there is a reason/ we went our own way
71: Next Summer: i fr dont know whats goin on so: next summer i will be/ as happy as can be/ because i will be in pain no longer/ the earth is sure to heal/ and i will heal with her/ so i can enjoy/ the heatwave of next summer
70: Next Weekend: next weekend i will spend/ my days wasting away/ maybe ill finish hannibal/ again/ not that serial killers make the dopamine stay/ i will not see my friends/ or talk to my family/ i will seldom eat/ and live off coffee/ this has been my life/ all quarintine/ god someone please help me
69: I have these pets: i have four cats, three chickens, and a dog
68: The worst sound in the world: my dad and grandpa talking
67: The person that makes me cry the most is: Them
66: People that make you happy: snap name time: the great oracle, junior, vibin ~[^.^]~, russian umbrella, mom, hero, booby-king 48, go to bed, son, pooper trooper, mac&cheese, plain egg biscuit, apple pie
65: Last time I cried: i dont cry bitch (last week over officals that cant make up they gottdamned mindes)
64: My friends are: my family and i would die for each and all of them
63: My computer is: an old hp but it play gaemes real good so it okie
62: My School: is trash but the band pops off
61: My Car: old, fast, clean
60: I lose all respect for people who: are my dad
59: The movie I cried at was: i cried over big hero six
58: Your hair color is: blonde
57: TV shows you watch: supernatural, good omens, hannibal, parks and rec
56: Favorite web site: this hellsite or youtube
55: Your dream vacation: out of the country with beautiful beaches, amazing food, and my best friend
54: The worst pain I was ever in was: the time i split the back of my head open, the time i split my chin open, and the time my then best friend said they didn’t want to talk to me anymore. i’ll let you guess which one hurt the most and which one i think about every fucking day
53: How do you like your steak cooked: medium or medium well.
52: My room is: clean and a reflection of myself, or so i’ve been told
51: My favorite celebrity is: i do not engage in celebrity worship. ill follow them and reblog gifs/interviews but i dont really have a favorite. the less i know abt them the better.
50: Where would you like to be: my own apartment in nyc
49: Do you want children: FUCK THEM KIDS BRO
48: Ever been in love: i dont know if it was love. i dont know if it was a crush. what i do know id that i was attached and they didn’t feel the same, and why would they?
47: Who’s your best friend: we dont really use best friend bc but “the great oracle” “junior” and “vibin ~[^.^]~”
46: More guy friends or girl friends: its 50/50
45: One thing that makes you feel great is: goin fast, the beach, playin video games
44: One person that you wish you could see right now: them
43: Do you have a 5 year plan: go to college, earn degree
42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: commit arson
41: Have you pre-named your children: FUCK. THEM. KIDS. BRO.
40: Last person I got mad at: they do not understand that they do not know everything about something they’re not even involved in yet
39: I would like to move to: new zealand
38: I wish I was a professional: artist? musican? youtuber? who knows
[ My Favorites ]
37: Candy: nerds
36: Vehicle: 1970 mustang gt
35: President: jfk only bc his assassination is the only good thing abt american history the rest of it is fucked up and shouldn’t have happened. also jfk’s song in assassians the musical goes hard
34: State visited: california
33: Cellphone provider: verizon? apple? idfk
32: Athlete: what is sport
31: Actor: i don't watch shows or movies
30: Actress: i do not consume media
29: Singer: alex gaskarth or alexander deleon
28: Band: fall out boy
27: Clothing store: hot topic (i will not apologize)
26: Grocery store: okay harris teeter fucks but lidil’s has aloe vera juice and target at 9 pm energy so idk man
25: TV show: supernatural...
24: Movie: big hero 6
23: Website: tumblr or youtube
22: Animal: snow leopard
21: Theme park: busch gardens bc roller coaster go fast
20: Holiday: christmas
19: Sport to watch: snowboarding bc its like skateboarding but on snow
18: Sport to play: anything with havy footwork (marching band is a sport)
17: Magazine: i do not condume media
16: Book: the ranger’s apprentice series as a whole makes up my all-time one favorite book
15: Day of the week: friday bc its game day baybey
14: Beach: cocoa beach in florida but also i have so much left to experience
13: Concert attended: i havent been to any notable gigs but i was supposed to go to hella mega
12: Thing to cook: pancakes
11: Food: pizza or shushi
10: Restaurant: chiplote
9: Radio station: i like my local rock station and my local edm/top 40 station
8: Yankee candle scent: anything smoky or vanilla idc
7: Perfume: chanel no. 5 if i even wear it
6: Flower: Hydrangea
5: Color: orange
4: Talk show host: cecil palmer
3: Comedian: john maulaney
2: Dog breed: yes
1: Did you answer all these truthfully? ;)
That was a trip. But it was fun, please do things like this more often. Also, I don’t consume media by choice. I’m not sheltered I just can’t be bothered, and I have enough going on. That being said I will now be sleeping. Thanks again, Anon, I hope you have fun reading this :D
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
august 21, 2019
i honestly don’t know why i started this post.
i remember promising deb that i’d right a reflective ~essay about my time in spokane, but my ability to write is...uh...non-existant...which, i guess, is why i’m forcing myself to write this document-of-no-purpose.
--
I’ve lived an extraordinarily happy life this summer. I caught myself laughing at the silliest things. I rolled out of bed excited for the day. I cried with relief when I reflected on my joy. I wasn’t stressed about moving and I felt loved by most of the people I was leaving behind in S/pokane.
There were mornings of just calm with Z and M (+ M’s best friend who came in from the Middle East, oh, and M’s parents, haha, cause they frequently stayed the weekend). There came evenings of fun with N and J climbing on walls. Yes, I felt frustrated when I did poorly, but N maintained that I shouldn’t be hard on myself--I’m still learning and growing my skill! I spent my nights and afternoons and lunch breaks with L and her...problems. Gawd! But I hope I helped her out because she needs this relationship between her and P and his ex-wife to work out--at least for the sake of C.
Gosh, it just makes me think...I had a life. A good one, but I felt a tug, a pull to come back home, and I just know that I’m supposed to be here for a bit. Maybe just for 4 years, or until Eli graduates. I can’t see being here for 6 years to wait until Dajah graduates, and I also want to be making enough money that I can take them on trips with me.
Okay, so honestly, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I wanted grad school, but that felt forced, and while I know that’s where I want to end up and achieve that school psych dream...it just wasn’t the time. I know it. I just know it. And I’m supposed to be here, in this town. That’s all I got in my notes, so the rest is chance and motivation and ambition and dreams.
Sucks though because my brain is more scrambled than ever (thankfully with no anxiety or depression to tie me down) and I want to see an ADHD specialist as soon as I get health insurance...as soon as I get a steady job...yeah. If I do have ADHD like I seriously suspect I do, I don’t necessarily want medication because I think the positive psychology work I did with Deb gave me a great foundation to work on my whirling brain without feeling like it’s a “bad” brain or “lazy”. I just...I’m REALLY struggling with my short term memory*, maintaining focus on even the smallest tasks, and planning/organizing anything out of my immediate...time frame? I don’t know how to explain that last one. I need physical/visual depictions of time (aka...constantly checking clocks, setting timers for almost every task, using my planner for everything, and utilizing lots of calendars) in order for me to understand and plan for my day. Or else I literally exist on 5-minute bursts of time, haha.
I am SO GRATEFUL to my partner Aidan this STEM Camp season because her method of classroom time management and her stringent dedication to keeping the schedule (that I wrote on the board...and in my powerpoint...and had the powerpoint act as an outline for the day...and linked a multitude of timers 😩) helped me SO MUCH, and by the last week, it made sense to me and I finally, finally, finally had quality timekeeping skills.
Hopefully, they stay sharp for the school year!
*My recall is so terrible I learned maybe a total of 20 kids name the entire camp session...which isn’t even 1/4 of the children I worked with. This is downturned from the past because I was pretty good at remembering names at the resort. Additionally, I consistently lost my phone/whatever I had in my hand as I moved around the classroom and worked with the students. CONSISTENTLY. The kids started to keep track of things for me because they caught on how bad I was and we had “Find Miranda’s Phone” pauses before leaving the classroom...every time. It’s...really bad. I also forget what people talk to me about, birthdays, secrets, texts, and more. I feel like such a shitty friend and careless, but on the other hand, I know it’s not completely my fault.*
Gosh, and STEM camps were BRILLIANT this year.
But I’ll write about that next time. I have to run to the HEB to buy some groceries and then head to bed because I want to go on a quick hike tomorrow before I go and give blood.
Busy, but not doing what I’m supposed to be doing...yikes!
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
the melodramatic beginning of my climactic end
There are, quite honestly, about a million other ways I had hoped to gain notoriety... and by a million I mean, like, five. Six, tops. Looking back, avoiding my own inevitable would’ve been easy – a literal push; a click, a tap, the fucking pushing of a fucking button (sorry, potty mouth). All I had to do was keep my mouth shut; keep my shit private just as I always had. I had worked so hard to get where I was – where I hopefully still am – and while some people may have deserved at least some part of what they got, some were just the worst kind of collateral damage. To the latter: you will never know the extent of my regret, nor the level at which I now self-loathe. To the former: I’m still sorry, even if you do suck a little.. I know, I know I’m getting ahead of myself.
On that note, I suppose I should start from the melodramatic beginning of my climactic end – my self-imposed downfall, my very clumsy swan dive into public humiliation. Here goes; try not to hate me too much.
Oh, I’ve changed the names of people and places, but the rest is - unfortunately - the truth.
“Well, it’s over! It’s done!” Judy, very melodramatically, intoned while frantically waving her arms, “Edgewood has officially gone to hell in a handbasket!”
I have only just walked into the back door of the bakery and tea house the two of us own together, but I can already tell it’s going to be one of those days – to be fair, most of them are.
“Well, don’t stop now, give me all the dirt!” I know I’m baiting her, but it never stops being fun.
“They robbed my silverware tree!” she offered by way of explanation – the “silverware tree” as we now call it, is the tree that we are forced by the town of Clydesville to have blocking our front door because we live in Tree City USA. We decided to make it festive by hanging all of our gold-plated silverware that was too pitted for use (we are fancy, after all) and everyone had already come to terms with the simple fact that we might as well just throw that silverware in the trash, because once it was out there it likely wouldn’t stay very long.
“Well, don’t let them ever say we don’t give back to our community.” Being flippant probably isn’t the best approach to the situation, but we are nothing if not sassy here.
“Thanks for taking their attack on my decoration seriously” she sighed “I guess I should just be thankful they were careful not to trample my english garden while they robbed me blind.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry, I should’ve taken this more seriously” I held up my hands in a placating gesture, “more importantly – who had bets on it lasting less than a month?”
Before she even had time to feign offense, the victor was ready to claim their spoils.
“That would be me!” the victor in question being my friend, and co-worker, Lawrence; or as we all prefer to call him, Law, “E-e-easiest five bucks I eva made!” he took the time to not only grab his prize, but do a somewhat embarrassing dance while doing it, “Ooh, wait, give it to me in singles – I WANNA MAKE IT RAIN.”
“Five singles isn’t enough to make it rain, Law.” I retorted knowingly – honestly because we have tried to do it countless times, and failed miserably. We have the slow-motion videos to prove it.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was your personal mission to rain on EVERYBODY’S parade today, Kat. Don’t let me stop you, want me to tell you about my hopes and dreams so you can shoot them all down while you’re at it? Yeesh.” He and I have been friends for so long, this type of back-and-forth is just par for the course. As a matter of fact, if I’m not mistaken, we are actually cousins. It is Wayneswood County, after all, literally everyone is related.
“As long as your so-called hopes and dreams don’t involve proposing to yet another girlfriend, I’m pretty sure I’ll be supportive of them” I know it’s a low blow to hit so early in our little game, but I really do have a reason for coming in to the store today. You see, Law is what we call a ‘habitual proposer’ – he’s been engaged to four different women (only married to one) in his ripe, young age of twenty-eight.
“aye-aye-aye, kick a man when he’s down, why don’tcha?” he pounded a closed fist over his heart in an attempt to make me feel bad.
“I’m not saying I didn’t know it wouldn’t happen, but I just thought people would be nicer. I should know better than to place any expectations on humanity anymore. Oh, well – at least I’ve got more silverware to hang up. No more soup ladles, though, the dredges of society apparently needed to serve some broth.” Judy interjected, still trying desperately to hide her disappointment.
“That or prepare a whole lot of crack!” I jovially added, making a show of shrugging my shoulders and forcing a tight smile.
“Prepare. Prepare?” oh, here he goes “Uh, excuse me, yes Geeves” Law was getting into it now, affecting a posh accept and holding his pinky in the air “prepare us crack, good sir, make it our finest vintage!”
“Soooorrrrryyyyy I don’t know all the hip drug lingo, friendo. I must’ve missed that issue of Street Youth Monthly.” Admittedly, my joke’s weren’t always the cream of the crop.
After receiving looks of pity for my attempt at being pithy, we fell into our daily routine of treading water and getting through the daily deluge of afternoon teas, ladies having lunch, hipster parents trying to force their kids into liking fancy things and the general public needing sweets to keep calm and carry on.
“Our 2:00 afternoon pushed to Wednesday, and changed their reservation time to 1:30.” Judy explained – at the end of the day we all sit down and compare calendars, make notes on scheduling, and make sure we haven’t over-booked ourselves too terribly much.
“Okay, perfect. I got a form submission for a 12:00 highest on the 26th.” I added, looking over my most recent crop of e-mails.
“Hmmm” Judy furrowed her brow in concentration, “No, that won’t work, we’ve got a party of 15 at 12:00 for a Bridal Shower Tea, see if they can move to either 11:00 am or 2:00 pm. Those are the only availabilities.”
“I’ll go ahead and e-mail them.” I responded, tapping a few keys to bring that promise to life.
“We will need someone on June 9th, we have that big pastry order for the store anniversary at Belk.” Judy flipped her calendar, and for the first time I truly realized how close to the end of May we were.
“I also have a wedding that Friday, so we will definitely need to schedule a lot of help because I’ll be down for the count just filling those two orders.” I’m the Pastry Chef, so I shoulder most of the actual baking responsibility, but I always make sure that only I do the wedding cakes. I’m very, very particular about the wedding cakes.
“Can do. Law, can you make yourself available?”
“Already planning on it, boss.” My friend was nothing if not dependable. “Y’all know I ain’t got shit going on otherwise.”
“Thanks, my dude. Did you buy your tickets for the Front Bottoms yet?!” we had only been talking about going to see them for, oh I don’t know, a million years now. I needed him to stop dragging his feet and commit to going with me already. I hate going places by myself, especially Asheville.
“ohmagod, do you want me to buy the tickets in front of you? Do you want me to purchase the gahdang tickets right frickin now so you can watch and make sure I do it, MOM?” like I said, the back and forth never stops with us.
“actually that would bring me great pleasure.” I said, a smug smile taking over.
“FINE.” He yelled, while pulling out his phone with more dramatic flourish than I probably deserved. After a few enunciated taps, he announced he had indeed purchased the ticket (showing me the text for proof) “You’re driving my ass there I hope you know. And buying me a beer – Wicked Weed is right next door and I’m not about to take on a buncha teenage FB fans without some liquid assistance.”
“I’ll do you one better – I’ll buy you a PRETZEL to go with your beer.” I’m feeling very magnanimous, obviously.
The day ended as does every other – with our tiny crew barely holding it together, and counting down the last five minutes like we were in Time’s Square watching the ball drop. Unfortunately for me, though, keeping up morale until 5:00 wasn’t going to be my biggest problem of the day.
The drive home was especially short for me, considering I lived less than a block away from the shop. Yes, I choose to drive - you haven’t been on these mean streets at 3:00 am. I put my little Honda in park, and tried to get all the groceries in one go, something at which I seemed to be failing miserably. Reaching for my key, usually hanging from the tiny cupcake keychain my boyfriend’s niece got me for Christmas a few years ago, I was shocked to look down and see nothing more than a broken bead chain.
Sonofa – “NOOOOOOO not again!!!!” I whined, loudly. Cute it may be, practical it was not – I had lost my house key more times than I could count at this point during our five-year stint in our little Edgewood home.
Micah’s car was here, though, so I could at least just bang on the door until he let me in.
“MICAH! MICAH I KNOW YOU’RE HERE, LET ME IN YOU PUNK.”
-bang bang bang-
-bang bang bang-
“I SWEAR TO CHRIST IF YOUR’E SLEEPING THROUGH THIS I’M GOING TO MURDER YOU. YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET THIS DOOR OPEN”
-bang bang bang-
At this point, my hand was starting to hurt desperately, so I decided that –naturally- the best course of action was to begin kicking the door.
However, one can only punch and kick a door for so long before one decides one looks like a crazy person and the neighbors start peeking out their windows.
I pulled out my phone to begin the task of calling him until he answered, but after the fifth call of incessant ringing, it started going straight to voicemail.
Huh.
I mean, that’s probably nothing right?
“Hey, it’s Micah, I’m either busy or just can’t get to the phone right now – either way, leave me a message and I’ll call you back… or I won’t. Later. Beeeeeeeep”
“Micah, what the hell? I’m sitting outside, freezing, alone, getting really shitty looks from our very terrible neighbors, I lost my key – again. Yes, I know. Your car is here, so I don’t know why you’re not, but I guess just let me know whenever you can. I love you.”
A knot began twisting in the pit of my stomach – our relationship would never be described as “stable” or “healthy”, a fact that my friend who was currently going to school to be a therapist (whatever that’s called – therapy school? Therapist school? How-does-that-make-you-feel school?) was always very quick to point out.
“If someone really loved you, they wouldn’t make you feel this way.”
“If he really loved you, he would make you a priority.”
“People in healthy relationships don’t end up crying on their friends’ couches this much.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. We started dating when I was young – honestly, no frontal lobe development whatsoever – and we got way too serious way too quickly.
What would you do if you were 19 and your boyfriend’s mom made you promise to take care of him on her deathbed? Yeah, that’s right, don’t judge me; maybe I should’ve left years earlier, but sometimes the hardest thing is to do is scream for help when your lungs have filled with water.
So, I sat there. I sat on that porch for five hours and twenty-seven minutes and you can bet your ass if my watch counted seconds I would know those, too.
Finally, the darkness was punctured by a harrowing halogen beacon, said beacon not being attached to any car I immediately recognized, but at this point a literal prostitute could’ve been driving him home and I wouldn’t have cared – the need to urinate was all encompassing and entirely overbearing.
A slow roll, the sound of the door opening and quickly closing, a decidedly female voice offering promises of meeting again soon; the soft crunch of glass-flecked grass from when he accidentally broke two of my solar lights but never bothered to clean it up, the rattle of keys being removed from the same front, left pocket in which they always rested.
“’bout time.” I slurred – admittedly, at some point during my wait I had decided to crack into the beers I had purchased earlier. And by “crack into” I mean “drink all of”.
“jesus!” micah whispered, jumping back and assuming what I can only imagine was meant to be a defensive position, “Kat? What are you doing out here? Christ, you scared the SHIT outta me!”
“Oh, no… are you slightly inconvenienced? Oh, oh, no… I would hate for your date to end on a sour note.” “Date? Oh, seriously, Kat? Really? You’re gonna get mad about me for hanging out with an old friend?” Micah’s mood immediately turned, and I knew it could only be headed in one direction.
“Don’t bring him up.” I warned
“For fuck’s sake” he huffed “so you’re free to throw my female friends in my face whenever you want, but I can’t bring up your so-called… what is it that you call him?” he asked in a mocking tone “best friend forever? Your little bestie? Bestie Bitch?”
“Seriously, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, that’s different.” I argued – the same argument we’ve had time and time again.
“Oh, I do know what I’m talking about. I don’t give a shit that you guys have been friends since you were in diapers or whatever you want to claim – that guy is in love with you; he would be at the front of your line, and you know it.” He sneered
“God, Micah, when are you finally going to admit that you’re unhappy? When will you stop trying so desperately to make ‘us’ work?” I pleaded, practically on my knees – because, damn, I was druuunk.
“When will you?”
I can’t explain what happened next, because never in my life have I been that person – the one who is strong enough to walk away, the one who can say no. I can only thank the Stella gods for giving me the distinguished courage to stand up – for, arguably, the first time in my life – and have the self-respect to finally walk away.
“Now.” I blinked, suddenly realizing what I was saying, gathered what remained of my groceries (that I hadn’t eaten or drank) and stood up, ready to take the first step. Ready to make a move solely for myself, without worrying about someone who had never spent a day worrying about me.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Back up… what?” Micah kept doing this ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ blinking and head shaking combination, probably unsure what to do in a situation where I wasn’t a complete pushover, “say that again? I had to hear you wrong.”
“Now.” I said again, much more forcefully, “I’m done. You’re done. We’re done, that simple. I’m leaving – I’ll, uh, come back sometime to get my stuff. I’m taking Penelope and MacGyver.”
“You’re serious? Oh, you sweet, simple little bunny… just like that? Just… done? Where do you think you’re gonna go?” he had turned condescending, and I was not there for that. At. All.
“I told you to stop calling me that, you ass. I’ll find somewhere to stay – so many people have been begging me to leave you and offering their homes as shelter, it’s not me I’m worried about.”
“Well leave your key, I don’t want you sneaking back in here and taking my shit.” Oh, Micah, you always were unnecessarily paranoid. Looking back, it was probably the drugs I didn’t know you were taking.
“I lost my key – if you answered your phone, you’d know that.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay – we can talk this out?”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Micah. We’re done. Now, get the hell out of my way, I’m leaving.”
“You can’t drive, you’ve been drinking… you have to stay.”
He had a point, and I’m honestly super terrified of breaking the law, but before he had even finished his sentence, I had my phone out and was halfway to dialing the only person I could consistently rely on.
“Kat, baby? What’s wrong?” he answered – he always answers.
“I’m sorry, Phoenix, I know it’s late… I just” oh, no, the tears. The tears started happening.
“I don’t give a shit what time it is – you can call me day or night, you know that – you just never call.” His voice had taken on a tender quality, probably in response to my sobs.
“I, uh, I… ah, fuck, can you come get me? Please?”
“Absolutely, where are you?”
“Ho-“ Micah cast a harsh glare in my direction, “… um, Micah’s house.” I corrected myself – this place hadn’t ever really been my home, anyway.
“… is that a new place, or a new name for an old place?” I could hear his hesitancy – I didn’t know how to approach this situation, how could I expect him to?
“It’s the same address… just a different situation.” I didn’t really want to get into it, considering Mr. Glarey McGlareson was still shooting eye-daggers at me.
“Give me ten minutes.”
“Don’t speed.” I attempted to sound stern
“Kitkat, I’m coming to pick you up from what I can only assume to be your now ex-boyfriend’s house, I’ll be there in ten minutes or I owe you a bag of chips.”
“I’m timing you.”
“You’d better.”
“Well isn’t that just precious – you’re moving on mighty fast there, Kitkat.” Micah sneered as soon as I hung up on Phoenix.
“Seriously? Don’t. Just, don’t. I’m not the one who got dropped off by another woman.” I warned, but it was hollow – honestly, whoever she was, call that bitch up and I’ll thank her myself for being the impetus for this conversation.
Micah decided it would be better to not wait with me, and I couldn’t have agreed more. He told me he would call me when he felt comfortable with me getting my stuff – I told him I would be by to get my cats by the end of the following week. He snorted some semblance of an agreement, walked up the two-steps to the small porch, stalked through the front door and ended the entire conversation with a slam.
Nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, Phoenix’s truck pulled up in front of the 1940s bungalow I wouldn’t sleep another night in.
How magnificent.
“Jesus, P, how fast did you go?”
“What do I need to load? What’s the game plan?” he clapped his hands, rubbing them together like he was either about to do some manual labor or concoct a dastardly plot to take down that do-gooder, Dudley.
“I’m sorry, game plan?” I asked, still pretty tipsy, considering.
“Yeah – let’s get this done, move you out. Why wait?”
“Well, for one, it’s like three in the morning. For two, this wasn’t planned and I haven’t even packed a single shred of anything. I’m not ready, I’ll just come back.”
“What’s in your hands?” confusion echoed across his handsome features. I mean, sure we’re only friends, but I can appreciate a good lookin’ guy, you feel me?
“What?” I looked down, because honestly I had kind of forgotten, “Oh, groceries.” I shrugged.
“That bastard let you go to the grocery store before he broke up with you?”
“Hey! Who says he broke up with me?”
“Kat, girl, it’s you…” head cocked, twinge of guilt, but ultimately not a wrongful assessment
“Yeah, well, ya girl grew a pair tonight. My bitch ass left his bitch ass.” Sassy really isn’t my forte, but I gave it a go.
“Oh, now I need to hear the full story.”
Behind my head I heard a window crank open, that particular window was in the kitchen which looked directly out over the portion of the front yard in which we were currently standing. Phoenix and I both turned from the intruding noise.
“Seriously, guys?” Micah deadpanned from the window – his hair was askew, his eyes red, and a cigarette was hanging from his lips
“DON’T SMOKE INSIDE” Phoenix and I yelled in unison, looking at each other and giggling like schoolgirls
“Yeah, my house, my rules, now seriously fuck off.” And with that little nugget, he stalked off to probably watch porn right in the living room because apparently the house was now a lawless land.
“I really hate that guy” Phoenix noted
“I really know you do.”
“What were you thinking?” he whined
“I have asked myself that every day for the past 5 years.”
The drive to Phoenix’s house took decidedly longer than nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds, probably because we took back roads so we could listen to music longer – something we had always done. There was always singing, usually dancing, and more than a few times there were tears.
After minor protest, he helped me carry in my groceries. Unlocking the door, he flicked on the light to reveal the home he had been pouring his heart into renovating for the past two years. The coffee table was new – he built it.
“Just put the groceries on the counter and I’ll help you put them up.” He whispered
“Thanks – I would say we could just toss them and start over, but these are kind of my only worldly possessions right now, and I’m a little attached.” I whispered back, because duh.
“I understand – it’s hard to not get attached to…” plucking a random box out of my bags, “tender whites popcorn.” He said, still whispering.
“Hey, P, did you get a roommate?”
“Hell, naw, why?”
“Why are we whispering?”
“Ha!” he laughed, louder now, “in my head we were sneaking into one of our parents’ houses. God, sometimes in my head we’re still teenagers.” He was clearly reminiscing.
“I wish things were still that simple.” I released on a sigh
“Well, do you wanna sleep or talk?” he was never one to tiptoe around the delicate
“Honestly? Sleep. I promise I’ll give you the full story over the coffee you make me in the morning
“God” he snorted “you will never change, huh?”
“Here’s hoping.”
“Wouldn’t want you any other way. The guest room is made up, you know the way, I’m hitting the hay. If you need anything, keep it to your damn self because I’m sleepy. Love you, bestie.” He gave me a quick hug – because even after being friends for most of our lives, neither of us was particularly physically demanding
“I love you, too, P. I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for saving my ass, again.”
“Anytime, KK.”
We parted ways, him walking to his master bedroom, and me walking to the guest bedroom situated directly across the short hallway.
He paused at his door, and looked back at me “Kat?”
I paused, and turned as well, “yeah, Phoenix?”
“…welcome back.”
“Where had I gone?”
“Nowhere good.” The pain was obvious on his face
“You’re not wrong, bestie. You’re not wrong.”
“You’ll get through this.”
“I always do.”
“I’ll be right here.”
“… you always are” I added before finally closing my door.
I guess, in a way, I was back. Like waking up after a deep sleep riddled with nightmares, full of monsters and shadows holding you down and filling you with a sense of inferiority.
I suppose, in some small measure, this was one of the first monumental moments of clarity in my fog-riddled existence.
I only wish I had stayed up my upward trajectory, stayed full of hope and happiness, kept the lightness of losing a boyfriend-sized weight.
Ah, well, I wouldn’t have much of a story to tell then, now would I?
1 note
·
View note
Text
Miscellaneous rambling Game Thoughts that I am Thinking about Game
Today’s Think: Spice up the calendar stat raising gameplay a bit with ~festivals!~
LONG RAMBLE INCOMING
* Festivals that aren’t just markings on the calendar like in persona, but minigames like animal crossing and harvest moon! Also Oreshika but I only know one other person who plays that, lol. I really grew to like their tournements tho, even if its just a boring samey rpg battle repeated every damn year for centuries. It became oddly more useful in the postgame because everyone’s levels are so high and the amount of Devotion (job class selection points, basically) doesn’t increase as the enemies get buffed. So the twice yearly contests are the only reliable way to get a huge amount of devotion all at once, which is great if you’re grinding out new characters en masse and trying to get a rare inheritance trait! (srsly tho i have got TOTALLY sick of the ‘everyone lives and dies and then you play as their descendants’ thing by now, it just makes me feel extra guilty for grinding. I had to kill like 300 dads!)
...MAN I’M GOING OFFTOPIC LOL
Anyway what I mean is that there’s a way bigger incentive to look forward to festivals/contests if the reward from them is something super useful that you can’t get anywhere else!
Princess Maker 2 had a similar sort of thing, because money was really hard to make and the prize from a single tournement could fund like four months of combat classes!
So whatever these rewards are gonna be, they should be like that and be a big boost that can help power-level your charries. Maybe even a x2 multiplier on experience for a particular stat, until january next year? or maybe this is how training gyms level up, instead of having exp? your fame rises in the tourney and you’re able to buy better equipment! Oh, and maybe the non-combat festivals could give a reward of a big relationship boost with certain characters? Gotta impress all the potential dates with your pie-baking skills! (pie may also contain dates)
* Also there totally needs to be a beauty pageant or fashion show or something. I know in real life there’s barely any of those for men, but this is a fantasy world so we can just say this town’s mayor is Damn Cool! And also it goes without saying that we’re gonna indulge the fantasy of having an unbiased set of judges that aren’t racist or homophobic or pedophiliac or anorexia obsessed or.. well, real life has a LOT of problems that games don’t have to emulate, lol.
So yeah! This lil town in jrpgland has a big ol fancy fashion contest and it’s a fun event for everyone! Enjoy making mr grizzled warrior protagonist look cute as hell!
* Basically this but What If It Wasn’t A Joke
Seriously I hate seeing stuff like that on memes about being progressive, when it was clear within the context of the show that kids were meant to laugh at that male character wearing dresses. Man I was SO damn happy when Steven Universe subverted that trope and had an end of episode twist be Steven crossdressing and loving it and everyone is like ‘wow classic steven’ and cheering for him. Also they didn’t force the socially anxious girl to sing on stage! Generally a great episode for breaking tropes!
So yeah more like Basically This But Basically This
Man I forgot how much that ending makes me grin, holy shit! It probably doesn’t have the same factor out of context, but just it makes me so happy to have a flash forward and we see Sadie still singing the song, just offstage. So we get to know that even if this whole experience was ruined for her, she hasn’t given up on her dreams, and she’s way more confident with singing in front of other people even if she isn’t ready for singing with strangers. I love her and Steven’s friendship so much, seriously! its such a good big sister sort of thing, and this episode was great for showing steven stepping up to protect her but like.. not in any sort of cliche macho way. By winning back the crowd with a fab dress!
* So yeah anyway Where Was I Before I Got Offtopic Lol
It won’t be a crossdressing-only pageant or anything, but it’ll be a unisex fashion show and I’m not gonna include any form of homophobic nonsense from real world fashion industry. And I wanna give loads of options so the player can pick whatever they prefer, and I’m writing this character as the sort of dude who would love all of them! Dark antihero trenchcoats are cool but what about also PASTEL LOLITA TOP HATS
* Maybe could have gameplay similar to the gen 4 version of Pokemon Contests? With the multiple judges! In those games the judges were all identical and it was just ‘don’t pick the same judge twice’, here it could be more like the three judges have different tastes and you have to coordinate your style and performance to get as many points as you can. Do you gamble it all on super-impressing one judge, or make an unconventional combo outfit that can bank medium level points with everyone?
And like maybe the cooking contest could have the same sort of gameplay, cos that’s another festival where you could say the judges could have different tastes. Also maybe friend characters have a random chance of appearing as a judge! You wouldn’t get any bonus points tho, cos they’d get kicked off if they cheated on your behalf. But maybe you can get a relationship points boost if you appeal to them? So it could be like a temptation to risk losing the contest but unlock a new romance scene with your sweetheart. THE POWER OF PIE!
* Other various festivals I have really liked in various cute town time games:
* Stardew Valley’s easter egg hunt!
* Rune Factory’s weird snowball fight but with turnips instead!
* Parents giving you money on new years was also a thing in rune factory, and I’m pretty sure that’s based on a real thing in some country? Was it china? Your culture rules, dudes!
* Also its in a lot of games cos its celebrated in japan, but I wish we celebrated it here too! The two day valentines! Seriously I way prefer the idea of having one day where one half of the couple gives a gift and then a later day where the other person gives one back in return. And its less commercialized, they even still make homemade chocolates in that country! Damn i’d love to try doing that someday! (not necessarily for a valentines thing, just in general it seems fun)
Maybe could have a fun fantasy variant where people give something different instead of chocolates? or if the conditions for the two different days were different? like instead of the girl valentine and the boy valentine its.. I dunno... a day celebrating some famous social class busting couple so its meant to be for rich people hitting on commoners and vice versa? A bit of a halloween aspect where you’re allowed to do stuff that’s normally frowned upon, free of judgment. (It was like that in puritan times when people were all ‘burn the witch!’ and all)
Also I like that japanese valentines has ‘honmei and giri’- chocolates for actual crushes, but you can also give them to friends and family! More holidays need to be an excuse for friend gifts! (also those are really catchy names for such a thing)
* Speaking of which, maybe I could throw in some festivals from my home country? Mostly britain has similar holidays to america with a few missing, but there’s a few ones unique to the different regions which are pretty fun. I don’t know a lot about all of them but here’s some of the ones we have in my are, Wales!
* Guy Fawkes’s Day. Official day for hella fireworks! Tho people also do them at christmas and halloween, and this holiday is right in the middle so DEAR GOD I’ve been dealing with my noisy neighbours constantly exploding stuff for three months. Give it a break, guys!
The story behind this holiday is actually kinda interesting though, we set off fireworks to celebrate some villainous guy who tried to bomb a castle once and everyone tied him to a tree and set him on fire. There’s even a kids’s song about this weird morbid old thing! “remember remember the fifth of november, the gunpowder treason and plot, i see no reason the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot”
Also its my american friend’s birthday, which is funny cos apparantly my birthday is an american holiday too! O+O
* Eisteddfod, which is like.. literally a stat testing festival in real life?? Like yknow how you have sports festivals in school, well this is that but for like.. brain. Brain sprints.
In mythology the Welsh were basically the Bard class of britain, we have loads of folk heros who are like.. literally able to poetry and then your brain explodes. So poems, songs, and novels are valued a lot here, and this is the biggest day of the school schedule because of it! Everyone gets to dress in ye olden style fancy dress costumes and enter best poem/short story/painting/whatever contests, and it is SURPRISINGLY AWESOME!!!
like.. everything is done with MAXIMUM HAM. M A X I M U MMMM
There is no amount of hyperbole when I say that the school carves their own wooden throne and there’s a public crowning ceremony for the kids who win. This is a literal actual thing that happens once annually in every school forever. Its called the Chairing Of The Bard! And I won it once when I was 11 or so and it was both the best and worst thing ever, like holy shit i was SO terrified having to stand up in front of 300 people and put on an even more silly costume on silly costumes day...
Oh and another strange thing that is actually real! School houses! like in harry potter! Its generally for younger kids tho, its like 100% of all primary schools (grade schools) and then like 1/3rd of high schools? Also the names of the houses are up to the school to decide, but for some reason they almost always seem to be red, yellow, blue and green. In my primary school they were just named for cities in wales, and I always found it really annoying that I didn’t get in Caerdydd house when the school was literally IN Caerdydd!
* Also unrelated but I looked up my old high school on google and I’m surprised that so many of the same teachers are still working there seven years later! I’m so happy that some of them got promoted!
* And other miscellaneous festival ideas!!!
* You know what i fuckin love? That nonsense fantasy trope of having to fight thru a giant dungeon and get like the rare crystal feather of the fuckface bird or else you can’t marry the king’s daughter. Its even more weird and weirdly endearing when its just like.. AN EVERYONE. Eveyr marriage. Everywhere. How the fuck do these people actually survive if they have to do this five times a year??
So yeah, I think that’d be a really cool wedding festival to have as like.. a sign of this town being badass, lol
But also make it less of a law, cos its not as fun if people are being forced to die on mount terror, yknow? its just a tradition that developed cos of some great adventurer in ye olden times, and goofy bastards dare each other to attempt it as the equivelant of a batchelor’s party. You don’t have to, plenty of people just make faux feather ornaments to propose to their loved one. But it’s considered a powerful good luck blessing to pull off the legendary adventure! Like only one couple every decade manages to do it, and you get a big town festival to make your special day even better! And people won’t be mad if you fail, it’s still a fun bit of entertainment for the townsfolk and a good excuse for Secondary Tradition: We All Get Drunk Instead
So yeah, gameplay wise this would mean you have an option to do this festival or not. But it’s gonna be the hardest minigame of all, so don’t come unprepared! Alternatively you can either buy or make your own proposal ornament, and do things the less adventurey way.
* Probably different batchelor/ettes would like different things? like Blair is an adventurer herself so of course she’ll go nuts for the traditional feather hunt. And she’d really hate the expensive ornament, cos she’s a down to earth gal who works hard to scrape together enough income in the inn to look after her lil sister. She’d get pissed off at you wasting so much on her, like wtf if you’d bought me a nice sturdy set of furniture that’d be way more useful! (Tho she’s a bit of an outlier and generally most people will at least be flattered by the fancy stuff, even if its not their favourite.)
* Oh, and maybe you could actually do the feather festival together??
I actually didn’t think of that, I was just going 100% with the cliche of dude having to do some crazy quest to marry a girl. But it would be a way better test of your luck as a couple if you did it as a couple!
That could be SO cool, just the two of you climbing a badass mountain and beating up monsters all lovey dovey~! And it could make the minigame entirely unique on each route, cos each character would have different roles in battle. Most of them aren’t adventurers by trade like Blair, so you could be fighting alongside a mage or a support character.
Maybe one of them is actually a weakass that you need to protect? Tho I mean it would be bad to categorize one character as the least enjoyable version of the minigame. So maybe its like one character becomes that in one particular situation, and that’s the sign that you’re getting their Normal Ending instead of the Golden Ending? Someone who has some sort of doubts or a secret they’re keeping, which limits their ability here. Possibly Mortimer? Cos in his case it would be exceptionally hard not to reveal his secret in battle! And I dunno, maybe he tells the protagonist the secret before they get married, and the writing is just framed so that the player never knows but the protagonist does. Now go do his golden ending if you wanna learn more!
* I like morty a lot. He’s ended up the most developed even though he’s the most recent character I added, lol!
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
Internal dialogue
I’m probably the problem
Everything seems so good on the surface but I just have this strong feeling deep down that it’s not
Maybe I’ve being over dramatic and that I am reading too much in between the lines
But what do you do when you know something’s seriously wrong deep down yet if you voice it, you start to sound crazy?
Like, how dare you think/feel something is wrong?
But everything that is presented to you just screams WRONG yet it doesn’t look like that to others?
WAIT
Am I gaslighting myself?
I know that’s a thing that happens to people who are been traumatized but am I doing this to myself?
I can’t be gaslighting myself right?
But I think I am
Cuz I think I am seeing everything at face value and evaluating my feelings about it and then choosing to ignore it and saying that I am overreacting and it’s nothing to worry about
That he still loves you
Look, he just took you on an amazing date and you both had fun
Well yeah, up until you had part ways and he goes back to the house where he lives with another woman and her family while you’re left wondering if you’re truly the one he loves and not a side piece
He has nowhere else to go and you couldn’t just ask your family to take him in
Well yeah, but then wasn’t he given the task of finding a place for the both of you to live together after you were tired of dealing with flaking potential roommates?
Yes
Has he made any progress on that aspect?
No but he’s probably busy with work and such
Yeah but he also has time to have weekly DND sessions with his friends and do things with them that you wanted to experience with him for the first time together
He has a right to do things with his friends without me and live his own life without me always being there. We are both super busy
You are super busy. He has days where he has felt like he’s wasted the day away doing nothing while you’re over on your side trying to push yourself to do well in everything you do.
But-
And when was the last time he has spent actual time with you or made an effort to work with your schedule to go see you? Your birthday doesn’t count. In fact, when was the last time he actually surprised you at your work or school place?
There was that one time with our best friend?
The best friend thing doesn’t count. The best friend wanted to go bother you at work while he was still home. I am talking about him going out of his way to go surprise you
He doesn’t have to go surprise me. He knows that I don’t like surprises
You’re such a liar. You like the kind of surprises with the flowers and love notes and such. You don’t like having to deal with a surprise that goes sour or it’s too big and you have to fake enjoying it. Granted that rarely happens but you say you hate it to minimize the chance of disappointment or attention drawn to you
...that’s not true...
It is but anyways, back to my quality time point. When was the last time he made plans to go see you cuz he wanted to?
.....
My point, exactly. And you even made a goddamn shared email account and put your school and work on the calendar so that he can put his schedule in so you can actually plan to spend time together.
That is correct. It’s even color coded
You’re such an organizer freak. And what did he do with that email?
I don’t know if he did anything with it. I gave him all the screenshots with my info on it, even the password to my personal email so he can get into it cuz I made the birthday of the account the day we got together and the system thinks the account is for a 4 year old.
Did he put his info in?
No, he said that he didn’t know cuz he was literally waiting for the boss to call him up for his shift
Uh huh but I seem to recall that he has regular work gigs on certain days. Why can’t he put his KNOWN work schedule in? You put yours in, why can’t he do it?
I mean that is a fair point
So he lives with another woman and her family for an extended period of time, makes no effort to go spend time with you and hang out with his buddies more often than he sees you while you start to isolate yourself in the library cuz you have to study and you barely have time to hang out with your friends so you’re essentially starving for some affection and love and lets not forget that he VOLUNTEERED months ago that he was going to spearhead finding a home together and has honestly came up with nothing so far
......
Let’s not forget that the other woman has out of nowhere in the past dropped you as a friend for no reason while you thought that you guys were good
Hey now, she doesn’t have to disclose to me as to why she unfriended me on social media. It’s her right to do whatever she wants
Yeah but it’s slowly killing you on the inside cuz you don’t know why or what you did for it to go that way. Especially since she’s close to the one you love and you know they have way more in common than you and him and discuss more things together. And let’s not forget she see him WAY more often than you ever see him
But he said he only loves me and doesn’t see her in that kind of manner and never will be. It has been me in the past and always will be me!
Is that what he said to you? You know how they lie. That’s how the one before got you the last time. I think you’ve forgotten how untrusting you are towards people. He’s also said that he was going to be the mediator between the two of you prior to all of you moving in and has he made any progress? I think not in my eyes.
He couldn’t betray me right? He said he’s loved me forever
Lord! Do you hear yourself? You sound like a battered lovesick puppy who has been abandoned by their owner
You’re wrong about him!
I’m wrong? Well you’re a woman of science. Look at this from the eyes of a scientist and take you and your feelings out of the equation and pretend this is about someone else. Based on the evidence presented, do you think that this one wants to be with you?
......no
Explain to me why in detail. I want to hear it out loud so you can understand
Cuz I always go to him but he rarely goes to me. The few times that he does, it seems like it’s out of obligation like my birthday or something. That shows that it’s one sided to his favor.
Keep going
I’ve set up a calendar that we can both put in our schedules after seeing it work for friends of mine and I remembered that I had promised to do that in the past. I gave him all my info and he never put his in even though he said that he will on his own time.
And what does that show you?
Since I’ve made that over a month ago and there weren’t any changes made to it that wasn’t mine and he had to ask what was my schedule in planning for my bday, it shows that he doesn’t want to bother making plans to spend time with me unless it was an obligation he had to do as a boyfriend. The claim is reinforced by me knowing that he holds regular DND sessions with friends on a weekly basis whereas I barely see him
Keep going
But I cannot deny him spending time with his friends in favor of me and the few times I’ve confronted him about the lack of time spent together he said that he didn’t want to bother me with my studies
He has the right to hangout with his friends, yes but he shouldn’t neglect you. You know that is such a bullshit excuse when you went out of your way to make it easier for him to know what you’re up to. And he has a goddamn way to talk to you cuz God Bless Technology.
But-
No fuck that! If he really loved you, he would have found ways to make it work for the both of you and make you feel important in his life and see you more often.
I’ve brought it up to him before
And what did he do?
He apologized
But you don’t believe in apologies cuz your father taught you that words of apology mean nothing. It’s the actions that matter to you. The proof that one is sorry is in the actions
He explained that he was in bad mental low and funk in that time period. He was attentive the past couple of days afterwards
Look, I’m not gonna knock him on the mental illness part cuz that’s a whole different demon. But if you’re the person that he wants to be with forever, then he has got to fight to keep you. You can’t keep giving cuz eventually you’ll be empty. You can’t keep finding reasons to stay if you feel like you’re not wanted or needed
You’re right but maybe I am just a bad gf for asking too much from him
WHAT THE-?! NO! You are not a bad GF. You have every right to feel fucking uncomfortable knowing that he is living with another woman and her family and what it seems that he is making no moves to leave and rent a place with you. You have every right to feel fucking pissed as hell that you’ve done all that you can for this man and he meets the bare minimum. How could you try to make yourself feel bad and make yourself feel like you’re a bad gf cuz you want your bf to spend a bit more time with you on a regular basis?!
I don’t know cuz I’ve tried everything that I could think of and nothing seems to work and I feel like it’s my fault that it’s not working
No it’s not your fault. Have you told him that it bothers you that he’s living with another woman?
Yes and that’s where he said that there is nothing there between the two of them.
And do you believe him?
....yes
You hesitated. That means you don’t trust that on some level and we know why. There has to be something going on cuz there is no way that someone could let another person stay at their place essentially rent free without imposing a time limit or condition met.
It’s not like I can just ask him to up and leave
But isn’t that why he was supposed to find a place for all of you?
Yeah but-
I rest my case. Does he value your opinion?
I should hope so
If he does and knew that this arrangement makes you uncomfortable, then he should have GTFO of the situation ASAP out of respect for you and because he loves you and wants to keep you around, especially if he says that his intention is to marry you and have children with you
I know you don’t bring these things up to him cuz you reason yourself out it by attacking yourself and saying that you’re crazy and that you’re being unreasonable and that you’re not understanding him well enough. But you do understand him well enough. He doesn’t understand you and it doesn’t seem that he is currently making an effort to. It was evident in the convo at the end of the date where you mention that you may not want to have kids cuz you’re worried that you’ll be like your parents and he said that he will be enough to stop that influence. But how’s that working out for him? The reason why you wanted to move out in the first place was to prevent another incident where your father hits you and what did your bf do? Wants to beat the shit out of him but doesn’t cuz you said no. Any reasonable, loving bf would have hustled to get you out of that place and into his wing ASAP. But he didn’t do that and you went through another incident where you got hit and you’re still stuck at home, feeling hopeless that you’ll never get out and forever feel like a caged bird
I think the one you love loves the idea of you or the you that you were a few years back. But you’re not her anymore
The truth hurts and that’s why you’re crying as you’re typing this out because you know this is true no matter how much you try to look at the situation from a different angle. Insanity is when you do the same experiment over and hoping for different results but the outcome is the same everytime
You’re driving yourself insane over the one you love and it needs to stop
And if he sees this, then well that’s gonna be a fun convo heading your way
And if he doesn’t, then you have bought time to muster up the courage to talk to him about everything discussed and MAKE HIM UNDERSTAND
0 notes
Text
OneRepublic aren’t going to release albums anymore...
But they will release songs. Ryan posted this on Facebook:
Hi. So we've been quiet for a few months, haven't been promoting our most recent album and staying silent on most everything. Figured some of you might wanna know why. We've been a band now for 10 years as of January, and in that time we have gone nonstop... album, tour, album, tour etc... on Native we toured 2 1/2 years... 50+ countries and 225 dates. We went straight from that into finishing 'Oh My My', our longest (and most difficult to finish), and straight from that into promo for 'Wherever I Go' in April 2016. About 3-4 weeks into the promo for the 2nd single 'Kids' I (Ryan) hit a physical, emotional, psychological wall. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, not sleeping, on meds, not happy, anxiety on a crippling level and it was triggered from sheer exhaustion. I looked at a calendar, realized I had been gone 200 days of 2016 and still had 3 more weeks of being gone.. From my family, my wife, my kids, my friends, basically my life. I also realized that had been the last 10 years. At that moment I wanted to quit, and almost did. I called my manager and said "pull the plug"... cancel tv's cancel promo, cancel the single, cancel the album. At the time we had a tour planned for the US in February, straight into Europe and then the rest of the world. We were gonna be gone again, for ages. The thought of it literally sent me into a sweat and made me feel like I was going to have a heart attack. Crippling anxiety. It also made me stop writing songs. I didn't have the motivation or joy necessary to. That's over now.
'Oh My My' is my favorite album, it's bonkers and eclectic and we planned on releasing/promoting lots of songs we wanted to get to, but that album is also what made me collapse... in addition to travel we had an inhuman amount of stress surrounding basic things like artwork and videos. Everywhere we turned something got messed up and had to be redone, at the cost of our time and lives and families. It was never ending. So, for the first time ever and hopefully the last, I asked our label (who is amazing) to stop. Stop the album, stop the promo, don't release another song. Hit pause. And they did.
So now we are here. What does that mean for our band? We've taken 4 months off, I had to dive headfirst into writing for anything but 1R.. so I've been busy with a lot of other artists, having the most fun I've had in ages, but in those sessions occasionally a 1R idea pops out. Fortunately we still love what we do and love you guys immensely, and love performing live. LOOOOVE. So we are going to. But we are changing the entire scope of how we release music and approach touring.
I had the idea even before our last album of releasing "songs"... when we want, as often as we want, however we want. Not albums, songs. It's always frustrated me that by the time u get to a 3rd, 4th or 5th single off an album that song may have been produced 2-3 years ago....and sounds dated. What if 3 months into an album you write a song that feels relevant NOW?? Albums aren't built to be flexible or get out of their own way. So here's what we're gonna do. Starting tomorrow we will be dropping new music as often as humanly possible... monthly, weekly sometimes, and it will be VARIED and with collaborations and may feel bonkers at first. Some will be remixes others will be just me on piano or guitar. Some will sound super trendy and new, some will sound classic and old school or very "OneRepublic". News flash: I am ADD AF and always have been. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to stick to one lane or one style or sound, I am incapable of it and so are the rest of the guys. That's part of my anxiety, "what this album supposed to sound like?!!" No more. We like too many styles of music to "sound like OneRepublic" 24/7. Newsflash 2: l have honestly never known what our sound is, not once. I leave that up to your interpretation of it. All I'm ever chasing is goosebumps or emotion or fun. Love, God, Hope. What else is there? In whatever shade or color that is-- Currently I'm chasing it. I'm a songs guy, the sound is always evolving.
So.... some of these songs you're absolutely gonna love... some you might totally hate, some will be a breath of fresh air and some you'll skip. And guess what? It doesn't matter. that's the point. All the songs will be me singing and us playing. So it's Us. We won't be chasing trends but we will react to what's around us, we won't be trying to re-write songs from our past but some will unavoidably sound nostalgic. SONGS.
So whats 'No Vacancy' and where did it come from? I had a series of sessions with my friends Tor and Mikkel (Stargate) in early January. The 2nd song we wrote was No Vacancy. The session didn't start as a song for OneRepublic, we were trying to write a Gotye style song for Selena actually, but when I sang the chorus it just felt right. The lyric idea started with me thinking about my kids and then I realized it was kinda just relatable to anyone. It had a Police vibe I loved... Tor sped it up and added the plucky guitar chords. A month later we ended up doing a concert in the Caribbean and that's where I finished the lyrics and vocals and instrumental bits. As I said I react to what's around me, thus the island vibe and palm trees etc....(and yes I realize I'm pronouncing "Vacancy" an odd way but how the hell else can it rhyme with "so damn empty!!??"). It's not a first single, it's a song for April. It's fun, it's summer, it's a song some will love and some wont- I honestly don't care. WE like it :). My goal for now is I want people to bliss out. We are in some dark times, we wanna make some lifted music that helps people feel happy. Feel connected, feel human, and love each other as much as possible. BLISS. OUT.
'No Vacancy' likely won't sound like the next song we drop... or it may. We have more new music scheduled 2 weeks from tomorrow, so here's the deal:
To all our fans: we hope you enjoy our new approach to releasing music, you will be hearing it as we make it. There are no "first singles", there are no "album cycles", there's us getting inspired, writing a tune, and getting it to you fast as we can. Because of Streaming services we can finally do what I've wanted to do for years. Some songs you will love, some you may loathe, but guess what?? Wait another couple weeks and you'll have something new that may just be your favorite thing ever. We will tour when it makes sense, put out artwork when it's good, and we are making merch WE wanna wear... for you. We will go to radio with songs when it feels like we should, not before. And we will tour... but not so much we end up hating life.
Love you, hope you enjoy No Vacancy, it's simply one shade of a sound that we like this month, and tomorrow, I'm gonna write something totally different.
XO
Ryan T.
I get that Ryan and co are tired of the overexposure but maybe their reaction was a little too drastic? I sincerely hope this trend doesn’t catch on. Doing away with the album format and just releasing songs to stream might be a great way to make money, but it is a little disappointing for fans not to have a body of work to listen to. I suppose we can make little compilations of songs released within a particular time frame, design the artwork for it using press shots and call it an album. Hopefully they’ll reconsider their decision in the future or at least give us EPs every quarter instead of singles every now and then.
In the mean time, you can buy their song ‘No Vacancy’ here on iTunes.
1 note
·
View note
Text
The last time we tiki’d with you was way back in the frosty winter of 2018 when the pineapples were chilling and the orchids were hibernating. Yes, it gets a tad frosty in Redondo Beach, Bub. That was for Tiki 101 at Hudson House. A crash course in tiki with some hall-of-flame cocktails.
youtube
A lot has happened since then…
We’ve gotten to know our own Tiki home much better in the Age of Coronavirus. Our hair has grown past our grass skirts, we have our own line of tiki-inspired masks (N95 filters not included), and we converted the Cal 20 sailboat in our backyard into a Bar & Grill as a home project. Come over sometime for a Mai Tai!
But way before we all started doing the Quarantiki Twist, Mrs. Satellite Engineer and I stepped up our tiki adventure ladder a few more rungs. Don’t look up my grass skirt, you Cads and Cadettes! The Missus is hell-bent on exploring the adventurous world of those tasty cocktails, and who am I to say “No!” to homemade cocktails? So last summer (hell, it could have been last week since we have zero idea how a calendar works anymore), we loaded up the truck and moved to San Diego for 3 days and 2 nights at Tiki Oasis in America’s Finest City, per the local tourist board. America’s Fish Taco Capital is just as good a moniker if you ask me, and would look equally nice on a plain white napkin which you’ll need as you suck down three grilled mahi-mahi tacos with crunchy purple cabbage and a tangy chipotle lime crema para un camión de tacos. But I digress.
Tiki Oasis 19 (yes, there have been eighteen previous ones for those keeping score at home) is quite possibly the country’s most famous tiki festival. I’m sure others will fight over the title, but tiki should bring souls together, not sprout fighting. No one likes to see sprouts fight. C’mon, People, there’s plenty of space on the island! Let’s hold hands and hum a few bars of Tiny Bubbles. Fighting aside, Tiki Oasis is one crazy 4 to 5-day experience. These noobie attendees were stunned by the sheer numbers descending on the Mission Valley Crown Plaza that seems made for the event with its coastal, tropical decor. 3,000+ attendees is the number we heard bandied about. That’s a lot of Hawaiian skirts and shirts!
DAY 1
We stayed across Interstate 8 at another hotel only a three-minute drive away from the craziness. There are plenty of hotels along the I-8 corridor for all the San Diego tourists to choose from as they bop around from the world-famous zoo to SeaWorld to Mission Bay. We chose semi-wisely, as our hotel was teeming with many families and noisy tots surely off to the aforementioned hot spots.
We had no desire to see lions, tigers, whales, or surfers. We were here to see the laid back world of Tiki. Music, cocktails, shopping, seminars, oh, my! And more! We didn’t know what “more” was but we were all for finding out. Walking into the Crown Plaza that Friday afternoon and seeing the crowd of tiki-ers of all ages was mind boggling. Throw in the explosion of colors from flowers, attire, tattoos, and decorations, and we knew we were in the right place.
The Tiki Oasis schedule is a complicated grid with activities starting when the sun is just waking up yet warm to the touch. We mapped out our day in light pencil and started with a quick recon mission of the island. It was almost too much to take in with live music at the pool and a scattering of vendor booths along the perimeter. Alcohol was definitely in the air along with sunscreen. Skin protection is almost as important as a well crafted jug o’ mai-tai.
The Crowne Plaza’s event center was home to our first seminar. Here was where the bulk of the vendors were selling their wares as well as registration to get our wristbands that “can’t be taken off for all of Tiki Oasis”, we were told pleasantly by the very friendly staff. You can buy virtually anything “Tiki” here. I think I was witness to a guy buying an unmarked island 1,200 nautical miles due east of Tahiti. Or you can buy a $50 handmade mug or the $25 version made in China. You pick. It was a mall of tiki. Serious business for an un-serious event.
The Harbor Lagoon room in the Grand Hanalei event center was the spot for our first seminar: “Create a World of Tiki in Your Home Bar” with Pam Kueber, a retro renovation expert (hence, her website retrorenovation.com). Her talk was sponsored by Licor 43. A booze sponsored home remodeling seminar? Count us in! Ms. Kueber got the creative juices flowing with her pitch on how to approach a home build of a tiki bar or room. The packed room listened attentively to her 7-point plan of attack that would work just as well if you decided to renovate your boring 1960’s bland tract home to a mid-18th century Middle Eastern palace style, or are just as excited to set up your autonomous nation-beach state under palm trees and keep below the radar:
What’s the goal?
Get in touch with your (Tiki) style. (Oh, yes, there are many.)
Plan the design considering the space.
Don’t forget to design in lights, sound, electric, plumbing, etc.
Consider structural issues.
Install your “canvas”, i.e., walls and ceilings.
Decorate to create intimacy
All this while learning to love the palette of “brown”. And NO WHITE WALLS! Or a television. Ms. Kueber is tough!
She showed various before and after photos of home tiki renovations from across the country including her own in New England. The crowd ooh’d, ahh’d, and drank Licor 43. This tiki reporter may have poured-his-own Bowmore Dorus Mor from his backpack. Only Mrs. Satellite Engineer (aka Gidget) knows for sure.
We walked out thinking that our own family room is a waste of a space for television watching and keyboard tapping. The doggy door is critical though. Could this be our own tiki room and bar? Hmmm. Stay tuned.
After sushi and cocktails in one of the hotel bars, more exploring led us to a whole fascinating world of the “unofficial” Tiki Oasis.
The room towers of the Crown Plaza were a vast unknown world for us to explore, one that didn’t seem to be mentioned much in all the Tiki Oasis literature. What’s to explore? They’re hotel rooms, right? Two words: hospitality suite. We saw “gig” flyers plastered on walls and pillars, bathroom mirrors and trash cans, elevator doors and elevator walls around the hotel, all for suite parties in the hotel towers. The parties were all sponsored by various producers of adult beverages. Are you seeing a theme? The daylight events were heavy on the cocktails and tastings. The nighttime ones were heavy on the cocktails, black lights, and music (more on this later). Our first stop was Room 1649 for booze tastings from SinShip Spirits Co. and 117° West Spirits, both local distilleries making rum. We were more than pleasantly surprised to find our dear old buddy Trent Tilton of San Diego Distillery helping his San Diego neighbors out by pouring their spirits. We would come across crazy Trent again pouring his own array in 1649 the next night. Mr. Tilton may well be the king of the San Diego distilling world with his hands-on creations. His bear hug greetings are always welcome and sure to put one into traction for 7-10 days.
Room 1649 was where we also met up with friends, Bartender Jessica Souza (of Hudson House) and Josh McLeod (founder of iconic electro analog band Fartbarf). We’re envious of these two tiki pros who built their own outdoor home bar. Cocktail maven + creative graphics artist = The Hoodoo Hut; which is available for private parties and cocktails-to-go! Book your holiday party now! We drank and explored with these two nuts who could tell you real from not real and cool from not cool on the shopping trail.
The rest of the afternoon was spent roaming the aforementioned vendors in the Hanalei building. The rabbit hole of tiki shopping is far, wide, and very deep. Be very careful! All major credit cards are accepted. Plus ApplePay. As we said before, it’s endless. Need an 8’ hand carved teak surfboard? How about a framed poster from How to Stuff a Wild Bikini? Maybe a Hawaiian shirt? Maybe a thousand Hawaiian shirts? Or a konacopia of tiki mugs that would stretch from downtown San Diego to Bora Bora? It was the ultimate marketplace of all things South Pacific. From classy to kitschy. Must-have to what the hell is that? From “whoaaa!” to “ewww, my eyes are bleeding, make it stop!”.
And the shopping fun continued around the pool. Various ground level guest rooms just spitting (pre-COVID) distance from the pool were transformed into hospitality suites with vendors using them as mini outlets offering plenty of space for drinks too. Come on in, grab a drink, check out our tiki mugs, shirts, sculptures, and dresses. Try something on in on changing room/bathroom. C’mon, you want to! And our friends from various adult beverages companies had their own kiosks stationed around the pool as well. It’s a veritable one-stop for all things tiki, including refreshments.
All the shopping and drinking with a tasty sushi lunch with cocktails in the hotel was just a lead up to the main stage. Literally.
MUSIC
Every year, Tiki Oasis has a theme. Just like you and me. Previous years’ themes included International Espionage, Monster Island, and Beatnik-Tiki. This year was Catch the New Wave which was an homage to ‘80s New Wave and Punk music. Now you’re talking our language!
Headliners included Orange County punk rock heroes, Agent Orange; Gerald Casale of Devo (now a noted Napa winemaker); Romeo Void’s Debora Iyall; Josie Cotton; Tim Polecat of the Polecats; and The Fleshtones. If you were anywhere within the broadcast range of KROQ or KXLU back in those days in Southern California, you heard all of these bands. Under the lights in front of standing and dancing crowds, the 80’s came alive. Maybe the throngs and thongs were just scared of the 20’ tiki to the right of the stage breathing smoke. Who knows?
But of course Tiki oozes music all its own and doesn’t need radio era music. Not a bit. Those exotic sounds from tiny islands with gentle breezes for background harmony or guitar heavy jangles are aplenty. And the other 20 or so bands took you from the beaches of Polynesian islands to the surf shacks of Hawaii.
To name just a few of the artists on the big stage and the poolside overlook one: The Insect Surfers who Gidget and I saw 25 years ago in a Manhattan Beach bar; The Hula Girls; Judd Finkelstein (owner of Judd’s Hill winery) & Tiny Bubbles; Drifting Sands; The Intoxicats; Jessica Von Rabbit; Joey and His Showmen; Los Tiki Phantoms; The Devil-Ettes; Tikitronic (who play an amazing version of “Bella Lugosi’s Dead”); The Surfragettes; and The Tikiyaki Orchestra. Plus, of course, El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, because, sure, why not?
Music, music, and more music.
The “more” music was later in those hospitality suites. As the sun settled down for the night into the Pacific horizon, the tunes ratcheted up – way up – in those suites. By day, these rooms were crazy but fun little parties for spirits companies to pour and chat up their offerings. Each room had some kind of theme. Ole Room 1649 was heavy on the fluorescent colors of those wild 80’s.
But once darkness descended, darkness truly descended.
The four-sided inside perimeter of the Crown Plaza tower is a long rectangular atrium with a serene stream and lush foliage on the ground floor. But above, the pathways of each floor were anything but serene at night. Long lines formed to get into each of the suites hosting parties. Doormen manned each party letting two partiers in as two partiers exited. The lines looked to be an hour or more long waits for free admission to…well, we had no idea what free got you exactly.
Black lights, strobe lights, no lights lit and unlit the hotel rooms that now had become mini concert venues with cocktail bars. Think about your last holiday trip at a hotel. Maybe it was a Crown Plaza a short drive from grandma’s house. Maybe you had the kids with you. And the dog too because you smartly (for a change) picked a pet friendly hotel even though the cleaning deposit was $1,000. Now imagine your pretty standard hotel room without any furniture, the windows covered completely with blackout curtains, the kitchen counter turned into a bar, the lights turned off aside from a strobe or two, and the wall – where the couch should be – has three guys dressed like Magnum P.I. except with masks playing surf versions of Danzig at a deafening volume or what sounds like Danzig if Danzig wore masks and were double parked so they had to play twice as fast so the van with the extra equipment wouldn’t get towed like the last time at the Holiday Inn off I-5 in Encinitas. Oh, yeah… imagine there’s a go-go dancer about 18” from the guitar player in a bikini in a “cage” showering beads of sweat on anyone in shower range (pre-COVID). The go-go dancer, not the guitar player, because him showering off beads of sweat would be gross. Now that’s a holiday trip, my friend. Call grandma, tell her one of the kids is vomiting so you’ll come by tomorrow. With bagels. Don’t tell her you were spritzed with go-go dancer flop perspiration while the Fink Bombs blew the f***ing door off the room. Yes, the Fink Bombs.
And that’s just one example of what those hospitality suites turn into come nightfall. We went to about half a dozen them. It was horrible. NOT! One suite had two different cover bands playing surf versions of your favorite 80’s hits. One of those bands had a Ramones look. Another party had a whole Bowie thing going. The party never stopped and the lines seemingly never ended.
We made it back to our humble chain hotel in one piece with a only bit of ringing in the ears. A final whisky nightcap then bed because Day Two was only hours away.
Day 2
After we had a decent Crown Plaza continental breakfast (you can make your own waffles!), the Better Half was off to an 80’s new wave make-up class. I passed on this – hot green eyeliner isn’t my thing – and instead strolled the grounds and found myself on Author’s Row in the events center. Authors and artists in the tiki world were set up behind tables selling books and chatting with the peoples. I was pleasantly shocked to find three superheroes there.
Martin and Rebecca Cate of Smugglers Cove bar and book fame gladly autographed their tiki bible to my wife (our second copy) as we chatted about a little of this and a little of that including how hard it is to find purple Hawaiian shirts. And the table next to them was another HOF’er, the one and only, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. I picked up the classic “Sippin’ Safari” with the Man’s autograph Sharpied on the front page. Next time in New Orleans, post-pandemic, his Latitude 29 will be a must-do. A cool cat if there ever was one, Jeff was happy to spend a few minutes talking cocktail stuff. This little visit with these elites of the tiki community speaks volume of this little corner of the world. All of its denizens are just the friendliest folks you’ll ever find. All everyone wants there is only a little piece of an exotic far-off place and to share it with someone else looking for the same.
The next seminar was “Riffs & Spiffs: How to Craft Your Own Cocktail” with Tiki Lindy, a cocktail pro and nerdy pharmacist which entertained the satellite engineer to no end. And it was sponsored by Pusser’s Rum which entertained me to no end. Ms. Lindy walked and drank us through charts and spreadsheets on how to adapt, re-create, and make your tiki cocktails better. I feel like I need a refresher course in Excel though.
Our last “formal” event was a breezy rum tasting in a small event room. Various rum companies including Pussers, Clement, and Don Papa had booths and poured samples. Licor 43 made a cocktail with a popsicle, and even Monkey Shoulder whisky had a table. It was a nice event that gave us an air conditioned respite. With rum.
There were plenty more things to do and see over the weekend. A car show in the hotel parking lot with classic cars tikified. Food trucks. The Parade of Caftan adorned women through the parking lot. The midnight burlesque show… sorry, no kids allowed. But for the kids there was the Tiki Tween Party and the Tiki Tots Playroom. We got you covered, grommets.
youtube
Another afternoon and evening of frolicking – yes, we frolicked and no one cared – of shopping, music, eating and cocktailing, and we were bushed. There was more to do on Sunday morning but we chose to head north on a leisurely drive home, or as leisurely as I-5 can be from San Diego.
It really does seem so long ago. Many cocktails under the suspension bridge since then. Tiki Oasis Arizona was scheduled for a few weeks ago. But instead of being at a hotel In Scottsdale, it was held virtually on Instagram and a few other online spots. Not exactly what anyone planned on months ago.
The beauty of Tiki Oasis is that it’s anti-social distancing. It’s a gathering of social closeness, meeting people, dancing, kibitzing, and doing what tiki folk do… have fun! Gidget and I planned to go to Tiki Oasis 20 this year in San Diego, again in August. But it’s anybody’s guess if it will be happen at Paradise Point in Mission Bay or in the comfort of our own home on a computer. COVID-19 has thrown Tiki Oasis-20 a 20’ wall of water. But it, like the rest of us, will ride it out because on the other side are warm breeze, cool drinks, and a sunset right out of a movie. A tad corny? Maybe, but the tiki crowd is always smiling no matter the surf conditions or the storm on the horizon. Tiki Oasis is that happy place to look forward to better tropical days.
The WCO (aka @AaronMKrouse) relives his experience at @tikioasis 2019 in #SanDiego, The World’s Biggest Island Lifestyle Festival! #Tiki The last time we tiki'd with you was way back in the frosty winter of 2018 when the pineapples were chilling and the orchids were hibernating.
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
bitetheroad
Bite The Road
hajsksksksk
İsimsiz
shortandsweetcrue
Like A Fine Wine
miniatureeaglefox
비아그라처방,비아그라25mg효과,