#and then taking ten very very slow 'in for 4 - hold 4 - out for 8' breaths

[ladykailitha]

Grief (A Friend Indeed) Part 10

Just two more chapters to go and then this little story is done. I'm glad I wrote it. It was very cathartic for me. I hope it brought some comfort to you too.

Here we find out who Steve has been grieving this whole time and that Eddie mourned them too.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

****

Steve was quiet and contemplative on the trip back. And Eddie let him be. That was quite the roller coaster of emotion he had gone through and he knew Steve needed time to sort out all of his thoughts and feelings.

As they neared Ashland, Eddie asked, “Are you okay? It got pretty heavy back there.”

“Sorry,” Steve murmured.

“I wasn’t asking for forgiveness,” Eddie admonished gently. “I was asking if you were okay.”

Steve sighed. “I guess I just had so many things bottled up that it all came out in a rush.”

“So talk to me,” Eddie said softly. “I know you think you can’t talk to anyone else because they’re all younger than you. But I’m not. So spill.”

Steve let out a long shuddering breath as if he had been holding it in for years.

“It’s just there have only ever been two adults involved in the whole Upside Down shit,” Steve murmured. “Well, there have been others, but either they haven’t been trustworthy or they’ve died. And I’m not going to lie and say I’m not bitter about Mrs Byers taking her family out to California and leaving me as the remaining adult.”

“Oh shit,” Eddie said softly. He hadn’t even thought about that. “That wasn’t right. I get she was trying to get Will and El as far away from Hawkins as she could, but considering the frequency of the U.D. coming back, it does seem selfish when looked at from your point of view.”

“El wasn’t the only one grieving Hopper’s death,” Steve spat out. “Why were only her feelings taken into consideration? Why was his funeral ‘a private family’ affair instead of one benefiting a hero where the whole town could attend? Why was El the first one that got to see him? Why did it take days before anyone else was informed?”

Eddie saw a shoulder and pulled off onto it, the Bimmer crunching the gravel as it slowed to a stop.

“It must have been so hard on you,” Eddie murmured. “You mentioned back at the diner that he always looked out for you and then suddenly he was gone and no one thought to ask you if you needed time to grieve, right?”

Steve nodded. “I just felt so stupid after it was announced that he was alive, you know? Like how dare I mourn someone who hadn’t even died. But I thought that once everything settled down we would get a chance to talk, but nope. He went off to California with the Byers. They’re supposed all be back before school starts, but who knows if that’s even true.”

“Steve it isn’t stupid you grieved,” Eddie murmured. “But I bet if you told him what you’ve been feeling, he’d pretty upset that he hurt you like that.”

Tears started streaming down Steve’s face. “I just want to be loved as much I love them, is that really too much to ask for?”

Eddie unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled him in for a hug. “Of course it’s not. And I don’t doubt if you stopped to really think about it you can name at least a half a dozen people who love you as much as you love them.”

Steve let out a watery chuckle. “I could probably fill up all ten of my fingers, if I was honest to myself.”

Eddie wiped away his tears. “There you have it, big boy. But it’s okay to cry and if you feel like you need to fall apart, call me. I’ll come over with beer, weed, and bad horror films to mock until you laugh.”

Steve wiped his nose on his arm. “You promise?”

Eddie leaned back far enough to hold up his pinkie. “I pinkie promise.”

Steve hooked his finger around Eddie’s and shook on it.

“You ready to face the road again?” Eddie asked.

Steve nodded. After a moment or two of silence, he spoke up. “You remember when ‘fake’ cried for Keith?” He used his fingers around the word fake to put it into air quotes.

Eddie, who was about to pull into traffic again, cut the engine. “Holy shit. It was Hopper, wasn’t it? That’s who you were remembering.”

Steve nodded. “It’s easy to cry when thinking about him, you know?”

“Because it’s new and even though he’s not dead, you never got your resolution?”

Steve nodded again. “I just feel so selfish about the whole thing, you know. He wasn’t my dad. I wasn’t related to him in anyway. But I thought I meant something to him, you know?”

Eddie turned the car back on and eased into traffic. “I’m sure you meant a lot to him, but there could be extenuating circumstances that prevented him from expressing that. Like I said before, I bet if you told him how you felt he’d be gutted.”

Steve just shrugged.

Eddie glanced over at him and then back at the road. “You tell anyone about this and I’ll tell Dustin about the time you flirted with his mom to get the brownie recipe.”

Steve’s went wide. “That was not flirting! I was just buttering her up a bit. That’s not the same thing.”

“Oh I know that,” Eddie said with a grin. “But would Dustin know the difference?”

Steve thought about it for a moment. “You drive a hard bargain, Lord Eddie.”

Eddie giggled. “You know, sometimes I forget you like ‘Star Wars’, you just aren’t great with their titles.”

“The third one is my favorite, after all.”

Eddie cleared his throat. “So back when I was just little metalhead, dealing for the first time one of my best customers was the Chief.”

Steve blinked. “Oh wait, I think I did hear something about that. I’m surprised he wasn’t fired.”

Eddie shrugged. “He wasn’t up for re-election. Sheriffs are elected. And small town like Hawkins, change is difficult. Hop would have to straight up murder babies in town hall and smear their blood over the church walls to get people to not vote for him.”

Steve snorted. “I doubt even then. It would take him being soft on homosexuals before they ousted him.”

Eddie laughed. “You’ve got me there.”

Steve smiled at him.

“So,” Eddie continued, “the reason I bring it up is that despite what people think, I’ve never been arrested for dealing and Rick hadn’t either until Hop ‘died’.”

Steve straightened up in his seat. “What do you mean?”

“Hop always said it was better to steer Rick away from certain places because he could,” Eddie said, “then it was to arrest him and have an all out war with the new supplier.”

Steve’s eyes went wide. “That’s why Rick didn’t get arrested until Powell took over because he didn’t have the same philosophy that Hop did.”

“Right in one,” he said. “And it did get bad with people trying to fill the void he left behind. Uncle Wayne convinced to stop selling once I was out until Rick was released because I couldn’t trust the new suppliers not to cut their shit with something dangerous.”

“Holy shit, yeah,” Steve agreed. “So why are you telling me this?”

“Because Hop looked out for me, too,” Eddie said. “Especially when my old man rolled into town. He would make sure he got to the carnage first and made sure I never got a record.”

Steve scratched his cheek thoughtfully. “That makes since I always wondered why the police or Jason never brought up your arrest record. It’s because Hop made sure you never got one.”

“So this is me saying,” Eddie finished, “I get it. I get mourning him. Because in my own way I mourned him, too. Because between Hop and Uncle Wayne they made sure I could get out of Hawkins when the time came.”

“This is exactly why I pushed for a public funeral,” Steve grumbled, sinking back into his seat and crossing his arms. “I don’t know who had the final say on that, but it makes me mad that just because they didn’t have a body people in town wouldn’t want to come see anyway. It blows.”

“Here’s that,” Eddie agreed.

Too soon they were pulling up the Nelsons’ and the sun was starting to set.

By silent agreement they both got out of the car and sat on Steve’s hood to watch the sunset in a beautiful array of blues and purples until the sky darkened and the stars came out.

“Thank you for today,” Steve murmured. “For all of it. Getting me out here, taking me to my grandmother’s grave, sitting with me when I talked to Uncle Percy. Helping me with my grief even though yours is far more fresh and painful than mine.”

“Grief is grief, Stevie,” Eddie murmured. “You don’t get to decide when it heals over. You were there for me when my dad showed up, so I was more than happy to return the favor with your family.”

“Thanks, man,” Steve said.

“So...” Eddie said. “You want to tell me why you and your uncle weren’t keen to let your other uncle see you?”

Steve snorted. “He’s the one that was the most against my mom getting any kind of inheritance. He didn’t think she should have gotten anything because she was a girl child. He kept saying that she got her money in the form of the lavish wedding she had when she married my dad.”

He ran his fingers through his hair.

“He’s sued her at least three times that I know of. If he had seen me he would have started screaming about how my mom didn’t deserve that money and that I was just as complicit in its ‘theft’ as she was.”

“But he got the house or whatever it was, right?” Eddie asked.

He nodded. “Yeah and the two acres of land it sits on. If he were to sell it would go for at least a few million, easy.”

“I’ll bet,” Eddie said, whistling long and low. “Which means Percy got the business?”

“Which another thing that upset Uncle Jasper,” Steve said. “But Uncle Percy is the oldest and had the best business sense, but he can’t let it go that he thinks his siblings got the better deal.”

“I heard this quote once about how some people are content in life, but that others just can’t be. That they will always seek more. Nothing will ever be enough.”

“Uncle Jasper is definitely one of those.”

Penny poked her head out the front door. “Come on in, boys, it’s really getting late.”

Eddie and Steve stood up and walked back into the house, feeling lighter then they had since before March.

****

Pt 11|Pt 12

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @messrs-weasley @goodolefashionedloverboi @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @emly03 @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @vecnuthy @littlewildflowerkitten @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @gutterflower77 @genderless-spoon @hel-spawn @ellietheasexylibrarian @anne-bennett-cosplayer @mamafaithful @yikes-a-bee @dragonmama76 @flaming-reauxster @r0binscript @awkotaco24 @ilikeititspretty

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #minor character death #dealing with grief

[sir-kuroo]

𝖙𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝖞𝐨𝐮

PICK A PIC FROM ABOVE 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 〔N!SFW〕

Let's discover your first time with your HAIKYUU hubby ❤️‍🔥!

1.Close your eyes and think of your HAIKYUU s/o and focus on the pictures above. 2. Select which one your eyes guide you into. You may choose a different heart per character. 3. Go under the cut to find your scenario!

Fan girl with me! I’d love to know which pile you picked and who is your hq s/o!

♡ This shall not be reproduced, reposted, modified, translated in any form or by any means.

PILE #ONE

body on me 01:06 ━━━━⬤─────── 04:05

Your first time will be because you both want to embrace something new in your relationship. You might be out on a very dreamy date with roses, good music, fine wine, slow dancing where your noses touch as you swayed; just the romantic fairytale-like vibe going on and it puts the two of you in the mood. He might get a little possessive during your date that just can’t take his hands off you and give you secret kisses here and there. He definitely foresees that you’ll end up in his place.

“I just wanna feel your body on me. if you want it then you got it, hold me”

You two will start off playfully. I see you getting quite shy in baring yourself in front of him and you might play hide and seek with him, hiding behind a curtain and him trying to get and catch you playfully. You might say tease, “I’m not in the mood.” He’ll respond with, “Ahh, so you want me to get you.” He has this cheeky grin on his face and you might be quietly chuckling until he finally have you in his arms. He might slowly undress you in front of him, eyes lingering on your naked body as you squirm. There’s a beautiful moonlight when all of this happens. Both of you will be taking it to the couch.

“you’re taking me there, you’re taking me there. our lips are barely touching”

There will be a prolonged oral sex for the both of you. He might order you to touch yourself as you suck his dick. You’ll be at his total service. You will love the feel of his cock in your hand. Very giving and observant on which lick or stoke gets out the best reaction out of him. You’re getting wetter as you flesh out a successful moan right from his lips. He won’t cum just from your mouth and will delay it so he can please you even more. He’ll sit you on his lap and replaced your fingers inside your pussy with his. He’s addicted with your body—your soft hands wrapped around his length, how you sound and move against him. It’s getting him more and more excited yet he doesn’t want to end things too fast. It’s like he’s unravelling you with each slow and torturous strokes until he makes you cum.

“no more wasting time. we can, we can go all night.”

He’ll put you on your back still on the couch from what I can see here, and he’ll be on top of you. He’s not the dominant kind, but there’s this masculine charm in him. There’s something in the way he looks or smirks at you that says he’s up to something really really bad. his touch is very magnetizing. You’ll feel like floating on thin air. You’ll be gasping a lot as you make love. It’s because he will be very slow and sensual, taking his time to please you like you just crave him more and more. He’ll pound on you relentlessly until you beg and cry out for him, but he will deprive you of it just as when you’re about to get there. Big on edging, because he has the self-control and the stamina to take this all night long. He might kiss your nose when you wake up if you’ll ever get some sleep, that’s what I mean. His/your neighbor definitely knows what happened.

𖦹𖦹𖦹

the moon, the fool, 8 of swords, 4 of wands, king of pentacles, 8 of cups, him: the devil*four of pentacles*wheel of fortune, you: the hermit*ten of pentacles, 4 of swords

PILE #TWO

moonlight 01:06 ━━━━⬤─────── 04:05

Hey there, honeymoon pile! Your wedding night will be your first time with your haikyuu s/o. Both of you might never have sex with anyone for a long time or ever since. This is not the fuck pile. There’s really an immense amount of passion and emotion in the way you’ll make love with each other.

“puts his lips on my neck. makes me want to give him my body. I be fallin’ for you, baby and I just can’t stop”

If you’re a female, he’s totally obsessed with your breasts. He’ll taste and lick every inch of you starting with a wet and sloppy kiss on your lips, dragging his mouth to every curve of your body like you’re a delicious food he can’t afford to waste until he drinks you down. He’s been dreaming to do this with you for a long while now. He might even have wet dreams of you and masturbated real hard in the thought of you making love like this. He’ll adore you like you’re his sun and moon altogether, singing endless praises as he goes in and out of you. He’ll be really sweet because he finally feels whole now that you are as one.

“sweet like candy but he’s such a man.”

You will feel a little anxious since you’re not used to do this. However, you want to give your all to him as he’s so warm against your skin. You’ll be heating up and craving him. Since this is your wedding night, you can be tired from all the partying but he will spoil you and hold you gently. Regardless, you’ll feel your body heating up. You’ll hold him tight and you’ll feel very horny around him.

Steamy sex is what I’m picking up in here. Each friction of his cock in your pussy will feel very hot. He will cum a lot inside of you and you’ll end up sweaty and panting. You’ll definitely feel tired after this session, but I see him curbing his desires just so you can rest.

𖦹𖦹𖦹

the hermit, the sun, 6 of wands, 10 of cups, 8 of wands, 3 of wands, justice, him: the moon*8 of cups,*2 of cups, you: hanged woman*ten of wands*three of pentacles

PILE #THREE

talking body 01:06 ━━━━⬤─────── 04:05

This is the pile that I also chose! Our haikyuu s/o is the most eager one out of all of the piles. While I was shuffling the cards, there’s this one card that kept on dropping. I thought it was just my hands getting tired so I shuffled again and a card flew flat to my face, like it just slapped me and when I flipped over it’s the same card! xD

Okay, this is another honeymoon pile, however this is a luxurious kind of honeymoon. It’ll be in an expensive hotel, scented candles aligned, there’s fresh fruits and wine on the table, bubble bath and posh robes.

Majority of you could be virgins. That’s why he’ll romance the shit out of you first. It can be that during the party, he’s already feeding you with food, whispering dirty shit against your ear, and seducing you with his glances. He��ll feel like your knight in shining armor, sweeping you off your feet.

“love, give me love. anything you want I’ll give it up. lips, lips I kiss. bite me while I taste your fingertips.”

That one card that slaps me on my face is the Strength card. You’re taming the beast in him. You might play coy and find it a little hard to loosen up, but you didn’t know how much it’s making him even harder when you play hard to get like that. He’ll be very passionate with you, heart and soul kind of lovemaking. Total daddy type, singing you praises and asking if you’re feeling alright. Right mixture of tenderness and aggression. Rough and fiery while he pounces you, but very reassuring and loving too. He might pull your hair as you suck him off but he’s saying how much he loves you and how lucky he is that he gets to marry you. When you whine under him, he’ll be like, “Oh, shit! So cute!” May blush and find it hard to keep himself together.

He will be very vocal during sex, but it will be mostly on how good you make him feel and asking you if you feel the same. He might tease you a little, “With he way you’re crying out my name, I’m sure you feel the same.”

“now if we’re talking body. you got a perfect one, so put it on me. swear it won’t take you long. if you love me right, we fuck for life, on and on and on”

He enjoys looking at your body, admiring every inch of you and loves exploring his hands through your curves. He doesn’t have a specific favorite part. He loves all of you. Penetrates you facing the mirror so you could see how perfect you are. He might get you to gush when he fingers you or while having oral sex.

You will both maintain eye contact during sex, arms around each other. It will feel like you’re giving your all to each other, finally finding the missing piece in the arms of the other. You will be inseparable after this and he might get obsessed with how you feel against him and inside you. His grunts and groans will be loud like a lion roaring but it is damn sexy as hell, while you will be a whiny baby. You will cum hard around him and he will be the same too. Both of you might tear up during orgasm, with the intensity of the sex and emotions. He’ll cuddle up with you afterwards.

This pile has 90% chance of pregnancy so make sure you get protection if you don’t want that because I’m seeing a lot of babies in my cards.

𖦹𖦹𖦹

justice*the lovers, knight of swords, knight of pentacles, 10 of pentacles, ace of pentacles, 5 of wands, him: strength*death*6 of cups*8 of pentacles, you: judgment*8 of cups*king of cups

PILE #FOUR

pillowtalk 01:06 ━━━━⬤─────── 04:05

“reckless behavior. a place that is so pure, so dirty and raw”

Your first time with your haikyuu s/o will happen after your break-up. Hello, make-up sex pile! The both of you might hit it off with dirty talking. Enemies to lovers kind of dirty talking until you just find your lips and hands on each other with all the tension building. Aggressively pushing each other to the wall. He’ll order you around, “Stay still,” and you’ll do the same, “Don’t keep me waiting.” Mr. & Mrs. Smith vibe, really.

I don’t see you reaching the bed either. He’ll be grabbing your tits (if you’re female) and suck the flesh of your neck from behind, his other hand busy on your pussy. You’ll be clinging on to him, reaching your hand out and grabbing his hair. He might keep your wrists restrained. Slight bondage.

“fucking and fighting on. it’s our paradise and it’s our war zone”

He’ll slip into you while standing up. His movements will be very swift, like there’s no tomorrow as he pounds you really fast. Sharp and almost cutting you might feel a slight sting, but it’s still pleasurable because you like that kind of stimulation. You’ll both feel like running out of breath. Dirty talking will be coming out from the both of you, “Fuck me! Fuck me hard! That’s right.” Very animalistic.

You will cum, eyes rolling at the back of your head like you just died was reborn again. You’ll both have an earth shattering orgasm so intense, you’ll both feel like keeling over until you both collapse on your knees, overstimulated. There’s a high chance of pregnancy coming out from this sexual encounter.

𖦹𖦹𖦹

the tower*king of swords, queen of swords, the wheel, the devil, 3 of cups, 7 of pentacles: him: temperance*ace of pentacles*2 of swords, you: high priestess*death*6 of pentacles

taglist on rb! please ignore if you already viewed ♡

© nekorei 2023 - All rights reserved. No work shall be reproduced, reposted, modified, translated in any form or by any means.

#kuroo smut #kenma smut #iwaizumi smut #oikawa smut #atsumu smut #kita smut #osamu smut #suna smut #sakusa smut #ushijima smut #tendou smut #hinata smut #kageyama smut #sugawara smut #yamaguchi smut #lev smut #asahi smut #bokuto smut #akaashi smut #tsukishima smut #yaku smut #hq smut #haikyuu smut

[sbdskate]

Laws Of Attraction (part 1) - DR x lawyer!fem!reader

Summary: McLaren is in breach of contract, dr3 hires a lawyer to deal with the aftermath. Tropes ensue. Slow burn. Enemies(kind of)-> Friends/colleagues->Lovers

Pairing: lawyer!fem!reader x Daniel Ricciardo

Warnings: language, eventual smut

Word Count: 4,177

A/N: Very self-serving fanfic of everyone’s favorite honey badger. I thought it was going to be a oneshot, but it ended up taking on a life of its own so expect Part 2 and maybe even 3. This is my first time writing, so please provide feedback! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

“Write the fanfic you wish to read in the world” or whatever Gandhi said.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Epilogue 1

When McLaren pulled the rug out from under Daniel Ricciardo in the middle of the 2022 season, he knew he needed to lawyer up. The mental toll of the sport alone was enough even in a good year without this contractual mess. To add an uncertain 2023 season and strained professional relationships in his current workplace despite almost three months left before Abu Dhabi was truly a low blow. He needed to find a home at another team and deal with the ramifications of McLaren’s contract breach. 

You were a mid-level associate at the law firm you’d been with since you graduated law school.  You had enough experience that you were finally gaining confidence in your practice and work product, but relatively speaking you were still young in your career. Which is why you were shocked when the partner picked you to be backup for such a high-profile client as Daniel Ricciardo. Time for client meetings would be difficult since it was the middle of the season and Daniel was still balancing races and the associated travel and training. The firm would simply have to meet Daniel at the race locations in order to get time with him and hold negotiations with McLaren and other teams. 

The time finally came for the first client meeting and as much as you tried, you couldn’t seem to suppress your nerves. You had read through Daniel’s employment contract dozens of times over the last few days to the point that you had practically memorized it. You panic-bought a new suit to try to put you at ease, finally settling on a well-fitted light pink pantsuit.  Professional yet feminine, understated but powerful. You threw on a pair of nude pumps and hoops – who didn’t feel confident in heels and hoops? Yet as you looked yourself in the mirror you kept fidgeting and tugging at your sleeves. You had to shake it off. You stopped, power posed in the mirror for thirty seconds and repeated your mantra to yourself. “I am a boss ass bitch, I am kind, I am smart, I am important,” you muttered over and over again hoping it would stick. Finally you let your arms slump at your sides. “Welp. This is as good as it’s going to get,” before heading out the door.

Your phone went off as you were in the cab heading to the paddocks. You saw it was the partner and quickly picked up.

“Good morning Joe, I’m on my way now. I should get there -”

He cut you off, “That’s great y/n. I’m going to need you to handle this one, I got pulled into a new deal that’s urgent and won’t be able to make the meeting.” Your heart dropped.

“But sir –“

“You got this, I wouldn’t have brought you in if I didn’t think you could handle it. Remember, this is just a client meeting, there’s no opposing counsel.”

You gulped, your throat suddenly feeling very dry. You had to put on a brave face. “Understood. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

With that, the partner hung up. You continued to fidget the rest of the ride. You arrived at your destination fifteen minutes early, as you had planned. A McLaren employee showed you to Daniel’s space and you got yourself set up. 

You checked your watch, he was late. Five minutes, you thought it was just another meeting he was in that went over. Ten minutes, you thought he was stuck in traffic. At twenty minutes though, you were fuming and considering leaving. I better be able to bill for this you thought to yourself. The swelling annoyance actually helped calm your nerves. At the end of the day, the handsome and charismatic driver was actually just another entitled celebrity.

Finally the door swung open and Daniel strode in. He gave you his signature thousand-watt smile and stuck his hand out. You wanted to melt into the floor but maintained your professionalism.

“Hi it’s nice to meet you, I’m Daniel.” As if he needed to introduce himself. Nor did he bother to apologize or offer an explanation for his tardiness. It didn’t matter that he was even more handsome in person. You adjusted your posture, standing up a little straighter.

“Nice to meet as well, I’m y/n. Shall we get started?”

He gave you a confused look. “I think we’re still waiting for Joe. I’ll take a coffee though please.”

Your heart dropped. Of course he thought you were an admin or a paralegal. Despite pushing thirty, you looked young for your age and were just barely above five feet tall. You silently smacked yourself, you’re sure the pink suit didn’t help. In a field dominated by men, it wasn’t the first time this had happened over the course of your career and you knew it wouldn’t be the last. Nonetheless, it didn’t make his comment any less infuriating or hurtful.

You unclenched your jaw and cleared your throat, doing your best to remain calm and level your voice. “Actually, I’m the associate attorney that’s been assigned to your case. Joe had something else come up and he will not be joining us today.”

His eyes widened, clearly realizing his mistake. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know… I mean I didn’t – “

You raised your hand to stop his stammering. “It’s fine, let’s just get on with the meeting.  We have a lot to go over.”

After going through the McLaren contract, you paused. “Next, we need to discuss what your goals are for next year before we approach other teams. What’s your bottom line?”

He looked down. It had only been a few days since McLaren informed Daniel he would be replaced for 2023, surely this was all still very new for him and he was still processing. Or so you thought. After a few moments he seemed to regain his confident persona and started listing off salary minimums he would consider, other compensation metrics, and various conditions. 

You stared at him blankly as he was rambling. You finally interrupted him, choosing your next words very carefully. 

“Mr. Ricciardo, with all due respect, I don’t think you fully appreciate the position you’re in. I need to know your real bottom line. I have immense respect for your skillset, and what McLaren has done to you is terrible. But what I don’t think you realize is that through all of this, McLaren has put your reputation in question. You and I know that your subpar performance this season has not been due to your skill as a driver, but on them for refusing to invest in you. A reasonable person in this industry, hopefully including other drivers and other teams, can see through this and get to the same conclusion. However, that’s not a guarantee and the rest of the world does not know that.”

You paused, checking his reaction. Seeing none, you continued.

“Your real bottom line. You are not in a position to be negotiating salaries. To best represent you, I need to know whether you would rather be on any team that can take you if it meant you could drive, including lower tiers like Haas and Williams, or would you rather sit out next season.” 

You knew this hurt his ego. Going from the highs of Red Bull, to falling to mid tier teams like Renault and McLaren, and now this. It couldn’t be easy. Despite your awkward meeting earlier, you couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He was quiet and focused on his hands. You studied him. You always wondered whether the world got to see the real Daniel Ricciardo or whether it was all an act. You had a sudden urge to reach out for his hand across the table but immediately pushed the thought away. How incredibly unprofessional.

You broke the silence. “Look, I know it’s been a long day, we’ve been at this for almost four hours. Why don’t you sleep on it and let’s set up another meeting and go over strategy later in the week.”

Whatever trance he was in broke, again regaining his signature peppiness. He looked relieved, dramatically letting his head roll back as he ran a hand through his hair. “Oh, thank GOD.”

“You mean you didn’t think this was fun? I had a great time,” you said sarcastically, trying to break the previous tension.

“Of course you had fun, I’m paying you $600 an hour.” You both chuckled.

“How about we do it all again on Thursday?”

“I’ll see you in Belgium on press day then,” he confirmed.

“Sounds like a plan.” You shook hands again as you got up to leave. “Here’s my business card, my cell is there. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything or have any questions.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he said with a coy smile.

You were sure he was being sarcastic, yet you couldn’t help the blush creeping its way to your face and you turned away to hide it. “It was nice meeting you Mr. Ricciardo, I’ll see you Thursday.”

-

You hated press. You didn’t want to draw attention to yourself, especially since news was just starting to become public about Daniel’s situation and didn’t want to get hounded with questions as his lawyer. A sensible and boring gray skirt suit it was.

Daniel was in the middle of an interview when he spots you as you arrive at the paddock. He grins and waves. You make your way over when you realize the media personnel around him, your smile quickly fading. How stupid of you, you forgot to prep him for how to handle interviews as all of this unfolds, especially when you knew your meeting would be on press day. The only thing that brings you solace is the knowledge that he has a PR person and you pray whoever it is isn’t an idiot.

As you approach he gives you a quick up and down, his eyes not lingering long enough for it to be inappropriate but you notice. You keep walking.   

“Hello Mr. Ricciardo.”

“You can call me Daniel.” 

In your focus you miss his attempted familiarity, burdened by the stress of your recent oversight. “Let’s get set up somewhere private.”

“Wow, you’re not going to buy me dinner first?” he says mockingly trying to keep up with your pace as you power walk towards his garage. With furrowed brows you shoot him a stern warning glance, but say nothing.

As soon as the door closes you jump right to business. You were pleasantly surprised by how the meeting goes. You hadn’t been sure whether your words from the first meeting had stuck, but it was clear Daniel had done his homework. He was articulate about his desires and through a series of follow up questions you were able to tease out any ambiguities and refine the list. You felt more at ease about the prospect of going into negotiations with other teams at the very least.

As you pack up your stuff, you feel his eyes on you again.

“I liked the pink better,” he says out of nowhere. 

“Excuse me?”

“The pink suit,” he said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

You felt heat rise to your cheeks. You look down at your gray ensemble. Sure it was boring, but it got the job done and you didn’t think it was that terrible. You pouted your bottom lip, “I don’t see how my outfit has to do with anything.” You pivoted, uncomfortable with the focus on your appearance. “But if you must bring attention to it, this is sensible and low key - which is exactly how we should be acting out there.”

He scoffed. “I’m not sure if you’ve met me, but low key and sensible are not really my thing. And from what I can tell, it doesn’t seem to be your thing either -”

You ignored the latter part of his comment, cutting him off. “I’m serious Daniel, it’s in your best interest to keep a low profile right now. The media is going to have a lot of questions until you find a team for next year.  You risk violating one of the plethora of NDAs you’ve signed any time you open your mouth.”

Satisfied with your deflection, you attempted to leave again. “We’ll be in touch about next week, we should get a meeting on the books with McLaren –“

“You’re not staying for the rest of the weekend?” Those darn puppy dog eyes made your heart skip a beat.

“I wasn’t planning on it, I have a lot of work to do.”

“Just work from the paddock. And I can get you tickets for qualifying and the race on Sunday.”

You thought about it, he had a point. The beauty of your work was that you could work from anywhere as long as there was wifi and a power outlet. Plus it meant more facetime with the client and you were sure the firm would support that. And yet, you actually did have a lot of work to do and couldn’t afford the distraction.

“I appreciate the offer, but I really need to catch up on the rest of my work and I need to debrief Joe.” You didn’t miss the slight disappointment on his face. “I know it’s shocking, but I do have other clients you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, excuses,” he played off.

You gave him small smile.  “Good luck this weekend, I know you’ll do great.”

As you walked out, you didn’t notice passing the other papaya driver. Lando did a double take as you walked by and saw Daniel smiling stupidly to himself.

“Who was that?”

“My lawyer.”  Lando raised an eyebrow.

“Um, usually people aren’t this happy when they need a lawyer” elbowing his teammate. Sure it was a little awkward between them at first when all this unfolded, but Lando was more sympathetic than anything else. He knew he would miss his friend next year and wanted to make the most of the time they had left.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “It’s not like that, she’s been nothing but professional.”

“Sure man, whatever you say.”

-

You worked out of the hotel with the race coverage on in the background throughout the weekend. Daniel handled himself well enough during the interviews, though he was clearly downtrodden after his performance on Sunday. You took a sip of coffee as you watched his post-race interview. It dawned on you – perhaps a more experienced lawyer would have picked up on it immediately, but dr3 was your first celebrity client. You had been approaching and planning your strategy as though F1 operated in a vacuum, when it clearly does not. Especially with the uptick of viewership due to DTS, public opinion held its own value and was something you could leverage. You refueled with another cup of coffee, opened a new document and began furiously taking notes with a new sense of confidence.

-

At 6am you received the first draft of the severance agreement from McLaren in the form of a passive aggressive email from Zak Brown’s lawyer. Happy fucking Monday. Within minutes your phone pinged, a text from an unknown number.  

Hey, did you see the email?

It’s dr btw.

You groaned, it was too early for this shit. Why wasn’t he reaching out to the partner? Surely he went out partying the night before, you cursed that he wasn’t sleeping off his hangover. You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes and begrudgingly got yourself up.

Good morning. Joe and I will review today and get back to you to go over our suggested redlines.

You showered and got ready for the day. You checked your phone again, seeing another text from Daniel.

I was thinking we could go over it together?

Seriously, what was wrong with this boy.

Pretty sure you pay us the big bucks so you don’t have to thoroughly read a 150 pages in a day.

It was a little sassy and risky to send to a client you just met last week, but you hadn’t had your coffee yet. You tried to balance it with a follow up professional text.

We’ll be in touch by EOD.

You packed your bag and went to the local café. You put your headphones in and hunkered down, going through the contract. You couldn’t help rolling your eyes at half the language McLaren tried to sneak in. You were deep in thought, trying to find a professional way to say “fuck you” when you felt a tap on your shoulder. You paused Megan Thee Stallion to find your client sitting across from you.

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world.” He grinned.

“No one should be this happy before 10am on a Monday, Daniel. Especially when you know your lawyer is going through your severance agreement with your shitty employer.” He raised his eyebrows, surprised at the crack in your professional demeanor.

You sighed. “I’m sorry, this contract is really just grinding my gears… no pun intended. What are you doing here?”

“I’m not allowed to get coffee?”

“No, not when I’m trying to focus.”

“So you think I’m distracting?” He looked pleased with himself.

You looked up, annoyed. “You know what I mean. Seriously, for your sake I need to get this done.”

“And I’m serious too. I want to actually understand this stuff, not just give a final signoff on whatever you send over. Please let me help.”

“It’s going to take twice as long that way.”

“Good thing I can afford the extra billables.”  You stared each other down through a pregnant pause. You folded.

“Fine, get out your laptop.”

He scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish. “Funny you should say that…”

You look under the table. Of course he didn’t bring anything with him. No bag, just his phone, keys, wallet, and the audacity.

You ran your hands over your face. “Fine, scooch over. Here’s a pen and paper, I expect you to be taking notes.”

Having won you over, he eagerly moved his chair next to yours. He leaned forward to get a better look at the document and you suddenly became very aware of you close proximity. The smell of his cologne infiltrated your nose, involuntarily causing you to take a deep breath. You wanted to keep your eyes on the screen and yet you couldn’t help trying to get a close up look at his side profile through your periphery. You cleared your throat and tried to refocus.

“Ok, so your original employment contract had a termination provision that was broken into three buckets: not for cause, for cause, and immediate. Based on the language here, it seems they’re trying to terminate you “for cause” based on your performance so far this season. The for cause provision allows them to (a) give you less notice, (b) provide you with less compensation in the event of early termination. But here’s the thing, your original contract was air-tight and never had a performance condition because Joe knows his shit and is a kickass lawyer. They’re really trying to stretch the interpretation of this language here and –“

You look over mid-sentence to see if his eyes had glazed over yet. Legal jargon was far from sexy. You were about to give him an out thinking he was immediately regretting his decision, but instead you found him staring at you intently. You stopped talking and you felt your heartbeat quicken.

“I told you to take notes,” was all you could come up with, coming out as barely a whisper.

He shook his head. “Right. Sorry.”

You two continued your review for hours. You were sure he would crack first, but ultimately you were the one that called for a break. “I don’t know about you but my eyes are crossing.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything but yeah, I could move my legs,” he chuckled. “So this is a day in the life of y/n f/l?”

“It’s not much, but it’s honest work.”

You chatted as you got up to leave and you began walking in the direction of the hotel. He stopped walking.

“Where are you going?”

“I was going to finish the rest of the redlines at the hotel then pack up for the redeye tomorrow. Where are you going?” You quirked an eyebrow.

“But we’re only halfway through the contract… Plus I was thinking we could grab lunch somewhere.”

You paused. Your initial thought was an immediate no, but you would never say no to food.

“Well… where were you thinking for lunch?”

“I know a place.”

-

You were pleasantly surprised by his choice. He drove you two thirty minutes away from the hustle and bustle of the circuit to a quaint town with cobblestone streets and picturesque buildings that looked like gingerbread houses. The conversation flowed, and he laughed as you ordered your third hot chocolate. You had lost track of the number of bonbons you consumed.   

“So after all of this do you think I would make a good lawyer?” he joked.

“You’re a F1 driver, of course not. The thought of you at a desk job in any capacity is inconceivable.” You both laughed. “Plus, I would tell you the same thing I tell everyone else who thinks law school is a good idea – don’t do it.”

“Why’s that?” It was a loaded question with a long answer. You really didn’t have the time to get into it, but at this point you didn’t care. You would get your redlines to Joe when you did, you’re sure he wouldn’t mind you getting extra facetime with the client.

“It’s just a lot of work. It’s an environment where they break you down just to build you back up, and as hard as the education is, it’s actually the easiest part of the profession. A lot of people are like ‘oh, like arguing so I should be a lawyer’ and it’s really not enough. You read hundreds of pages a day, your professors cold call you, classmates can be assholes, and if you don’t have a good reason for why you’re doing it, you’re set up for failure.”

“Jeez, what a glowing review… so like, do you actually enjoy your job?”

You chuckled. “I love my job. It’s not the same adrenaline that you’re used to, but going toe to toe with opposing counsel can be such a rush. It’s not always that, and a lot of time it’s just paper pushing but the highs make up for it. Plus I made some of my closest friends in law school, I wouldn’t give that up for the world. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.”

“What are your friends like?” Daniel was genuinely curious. You seemed so constantly consumed with work, it was hard to imagine you with a life outside your professional capacity. Like a little kid seeing his teacher outside of school for the first time.

A slow grin crept its way to your face. “They’re the craziest bunch of high functioning alcoholics I know, and I love them. There’s a special bond you build with people when you’re all at your worst going through hell together.”  

His laughter settled into a soft smile, reflecting on the second part of your statement. You hadn’t known each other long, but you met him when he was going through a career low. He was questioning his love of the sport he had dedicated his life to, and you forced vulnerability out of him as he was trying to hide it from the rest of the world.

“Yeah, I get that,” he finally said. He checked his watch and grimaced. “On that note, I think it’s time to head back…sorry this was a longer detour than I thought.”

Your eyes widened in panic as you realized the time, but you didn’t want to let on or make him feel bad. “It’s fine, let’s call it client-relationship development.” He went to grab his card, but you stopped him. “I think the firm can handle this one,” you smiled as you took out your company card.

“Fine, but I’m getting the next one.”

“Bold of you to assume there will be a next one,” you quipped.

“Bold of you to assume there won’t be.” You sat there smiling at one another for a moment before you diverted your gaze. It was a comfortable silence, both content with the banter you had exchanged over the day.

You continued with light conversation on the drive back. Despite the anxiety knowing you had to finish the review of the agreement, it was offset by the comfort of your travel companion. You decided to put the stress away until you got back to the hotel and enjoyed Daniel’s company in the meantime, relishing in the escape from you work for the first time.

#dr3 #daniel ricciardo #danny ric #f1 #honey badger #daniel ricciardo imagine #f1 fanfic #daniel ricciardo fanfic #formula 1 #formula one #formula one fanfiction #dr3 x reader #f1 x oc #f1 x reader #daniel ricciardo x reader #suits #lawyered #slow burn #laws of attraction

[x-populuxe]

First-lines-of-fic meme! I was tagged by @destinationtoast. 😘

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

So...I have published ten fics total, and rather than posting the first lines of every single one of them, I’m going to mix this up and do my five most recent as well as my five current WIPs, because I have somehow become a person with five substantially written WIPs, I cry. (This is clearly an attempt at public accountability, help lol).

All fics are X-Men, of course, and unless otherwise marked, Charles/Erik:

Published!

1. “to put the world between us” (25K words, actor AU)

The drive should take two hours, but Erik manages it in ninety minutes, using his powers to floor the gas pedal as he scrambles the occasional police scanner. When he whips into the hotel parking lot in a spray of gravel, Emma’s mental greeting is half is half warm, half weary.

2. “Unlived Histories (The Double Vision Remix)” (18K words, remix, time travel)

Erik didn’t know it then, but everything started to change on Charles’s sixteenth birthday.

3. “Correspondence” (13K words, part of a canon-divergent series set in 1963)

When Charles wakes, he stretches out his mind and then his arm, groping at the opposite side of the bed. Erik isn’t there, though the sheets are still warm.

4. “What We Inherit” (20K words, David & Charles, father-son bonding)

David first starts to suspect that something’s up when his father gets a phone call very early on Tuesday morning.

5. “the way it travels in and keeps emitting light” (29K words, accident and recovery, enemies to friends to lovers)

Erik lets himself into Raven’s building on Friday evening, waving a hand as the locks click open. As he rides the converted freight elevator up to the top floor, he sinks his powers into all those sturdy old pulleys and gears—one thing on the long list of reasons he prefers Raven’s apartment to his own.

WIPs!

(obviously these are not set in stone)

1. The “Charles bailing Erik out of jail” fic I am currently writing for @ikeracity for Fandom Trumps Hate! (Ike you get a sneak peek lol) (ps I'm legit obsessed with writing this fic rn, thank you again for your prompt):

 “One phone call” is only a thing in the movies—but the cops don’t give you unlimited phone calls, either. This turns out to be a problem when all your friends were either arrested alongside you or are completely fucking worthless.

2. Multiverse/time travel fic that begins 8 months after the events of XMFC:

They’re moving quickly through the woods that surround the facility when Emma slows and makes a clicking sound with her tongue. Erik holds out his arms to halt the rest of the group.

3. Sequel to “What We Inherit,” still about David & Charles, but also with some (semi-hostile) cherik as well:

It’s a beautiful late-summer day, with a bright blue sky stretching above the sandy dunes that extend from the house out towards the Atlantic.

But David can’t see any of that right now, because he’s sitting in his bedroom, reading a book.

4. Media AU (trust me, this first line makes sense in context lol):

DAVID REMNICK: This is The New Yorker Radio Hour. I’m David Remnick.

5. Big Billions AU I started writing in early 2020 🥲 that I’ve finally picked up again this year:

Crowds, the common wisdom goes, are one of the truest tests of a telepath’s strength and skill. Never mind that there’s far more to telepathy than brute force and blunt shielding—with a packed train or a busy bar or a stadium full of revelers, it’s easier to see just how effectively a person can block out other minds.

This is a fun exercise, especially to look at patterns! Tagging @rozf, @gerec, @ikeracity, @midrashic, @joshriku, @arcanewinter, @jackyjango, + anyone else who wants to do this! (If anyone else wants to put their WIP opening lines out there, join me!!!!)

#my fic #fic meme #cherik #destinationtoast

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United 4-3 Liverpool (AET)

My heart. I can't. United are off to Wembley, and I'm off to hospital because I think i'm dying.

BRACE FOR A LOAD OF TWEET REFERENCES TOO.

United struck early at Old Trafford and it FELT like it would be our day. We were playing free flowing football, not that Liverpool weren't at the races, but we looked like a rival not an underdog.

Mainoo class, Rashford sharp, Garnacho drawing defenders, Hojlund holding up the ball, Bruno dictating play, McTominay... being saucey... and then bang he scores. SCENES.

This pressure lasted til around the 40th minute and then United fell apart and conceded 2. Classic.

Freddy here queries the focus, but as the image below shows, United without a proper no6 like Casemiro (because McSauce ain't that) are just two disconnected attack/defence units and it's pants.

Mainoo should be an 8. Bruno IS a 10. McTominay is a 10. Mount is an 8. Maybe Amrabat wouldn't have been the right choice, but he would have filled this pocket.

It's tricky for Ten Hag though. McTominay is an ENGINE and evidently committed, and scores important goals, even if he isn't an ideal fit. It's tricky to not pick deserving players.

The hope had faded at the end of the first half, and things were a bit sour. United looked knackered, were showing the cracks of this season all over again, and that frustration was coming out in the form of Captain Bruno's petulence.

I don't personally thing Erik Ten Hag wants United to be so disconnected. I just also think his team NEEDS a ball-playing CB (we only have Martinez) and a proper 6 (ageing Case, unfancied Amra). Two crucial positions to be filled, and that's ignoring the zero depth at CF and the issues form or injury issues at RW/LB.

Second half saw a second chance for United, and none other than substitute Antony scored the equaliser. What.

ETH went full Ranieri tinkerman mode too.

Antony LB, Bruno quarterback, Eriksen deep, Amad on, Mount on later... a full madness occurred and it was amazing.

Praise came through from the fans too - even amidst the tension. Onana had a very good game, Garnacho was everywhere, Mainoo so classy on the ball... hard to call out anyone being poor.

Then of course United conceded yet another deflected goal...

But before that 2-3 position, United COULD have won it at the death in normal time if Rashford had finished - and it wasn't his only missed chance.

The storyline loves a twist and turn though. 3-3 Rashford.

United are on adrenaline now. Buzzing. The Old Trafford atmosphere is fever pitch. Everyone's knackered, cramping, puffing like old dogs, but still both sides battled on. A proper cup showdown.

Fans on both sides were beginning to feel sick.

At 3 all, everyone feared the worst: penalties. You can't deny though that today's game was the pinnacle of a mad weekend of FA Cup football. City Newcastle aside, we had the shock turnaround of Coventry beating Wolves, Chelsea Leicester going the distance, and now United Liverpool. Sensational viewing.

As the end of extra time loomed, Liverpool's attack was broken down and the counter was on. Garnacho - who it felt like had sprinted all game long - and Amad alongside. Two kids against the world, tearing it down the pitch. Shit pass from Alejandro, recovered well by Amad, slight feint, step, weasels it past Kelleher and gently in off the inside of the right post like a snooker finish.

That's all in slow motion, but the crowd and the explosion of noise was like we'd just won at life. Volume. Kids crying with joy. Amad sent off for taking his shirt off to celebrate. Amad-ness. Amazing.

And lo, United did win 4-3 at the death at home to book a semi final at Wembley against Coventry. Not that lower teams have been easier (hi Newport) but I also have more faith in Chelsea of the 3 of us to hurt City.

So yeah, Klopp's hopes of a fairytale season ending are over. I love shit like that. Ruining the party is part of the fun of it all.

We're all knackered, but we're all buzzing. This weekend has been mint, and how often can you say that about a United game eh? Up the fucking reds, and on to Wembley!

#manchester united #man u #man united #manchester reds #man utd #erik ten hag #marcus rashford #old trafford #liverpool #mo salah #antony #scott mctominay #amad diallo #kobbie mainoo #andre onana #bruno fernandes #diogo dalot #alejandro garnacho #luis diaz

[skippyv20]

Yacht chef here. I specialize in easy, quick and fancy. 1. Read Harold McGee. Understanding a few basic scientific principles will improve your cooking dramatically. 2. Turn down the heat on the stovetop when cooking everything but meat. Then turn it waaay up. 3. Don't forget to season with an acid (i.e. citrus or vinegar) just like you would with salt. 4. For great mash potatoes, add xanthan gum to your melted butter and cream for a stable hydrocolloid before adding it to your potatoes. You can add a lot more flavor (butter) without it separating. 5. Xanthan gum works wonders in most homemade salad dressings too. So many uses in a kitchen. 6. Use a digital thermometer with an oven safe probe. Use it for everything. Temperature is really important in everything you do. Even things like bread and pastries. 7. Use the big sheets of parchment paper on all your pans and kitchen surfaces. It makes cleaning up a lot easier. You can get boxes of 3000 sheets for like 40 bucks and it will last you a year. S**t is magic. 8. Sharpen your knives. A sharp knife is not only safer but will change the way you cook. A dull, s***ty knife will slow you down by half during prep. 9. Don't 'eyeball' amounts and don't cook by time. Cook by weight and temperature. Use a scale. Your pastries and will improve dramatically. 10. Don't keep eggs in the fridge. 11. Always put a wet rag under your cutting board to keep it from moving. 12. Learn how to blanch vegetables. The first time you see the difference between blanched asparagus and regular asparagus it will blow your mind. 13. Put lemons and limes in the microwave for ten seconds before you juice them. Much easier to juice. 14. Immersion blenders are indispensable. 15. Fish cooks surprisingly well from frozen. Try it, you'll be amazed at how you can develop great flavors on the outside without overcooking the interior. Just don't try it on something over about 1.5" thick. 16. Dried beans taste better, are way cheaper than canned beans and are a lot easier to portion. You might be surprised by how much better they taste. Just soak them overnight. 17. If you have a stand mixer, get the food grinder. Freshly ground meat cooks more evenly, tastes better and is easier to work with. 18. Make your bread awesome by increasing it's gluten content. Buy gluten at the store and add a tablespoon per 3 cups of regular flour. 19. Cut evenly to cook evenly. 20. Use fresh herbs but don't buy them in the package if you can. They often sell the plant in a plastic pot in supermarkets and the price is usually about the same for the same amount. The upside is you don't have to worry about your herbs spoiling. 21. Put an egg yolk, a little salt, a touch of lemon juice and a teaspoon of mustard in a glass bowl. Beat the s**t out of it with a whisk for about thirty seconds. Then slowly add (I mean drop by drop at first) a cup of oil while beating the s**t out of it (wrap a towel in a circle and use it as a base for your bowl if you don't want to hold it). As it thickens, keep adding oil in a very slow stream. It will slowly form mayonnaise and it if it's your first time tasting real mayo you might want to give yourself time to forget the mayo lie that you've been living. As you get better, this will only take a few minutes to make a bunch of mayo. For me, this is kitchen wizardry. 22. If you're doing a bunch of cooking (especially with flour) it takes about twenty seconds to plastic wrap your prep counter. It saves about 10 minutes of cleaning. 23. MSG is not bad for you. Use it sparingly and it can really improve your food. Try it with soups first and experiment with it in other things. It's not for everything but can mean the difference between good and great. 24. Salt your eggs before you cook them. They are more tender.

https://www.boredpanda.com/best-lazy-cooking-cheats/

[asukaskerian]

tagged by @voxofthevoid

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics  and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and  share anyway.

oh man. in the early homestuck days this wound have meant ten ficlets and oneshots from the last month only. XD i slowed down so much. also does “most recent” mean most recently written on or most recently started or most recently published? because those are really not the same. 

1.  Howling Outside Your Door

There's a barrier around the house, but it's not made to stop an Espada.

It's more of a notice-me-not, he thinks, pressing his bloody hand to it -- leaning too hard into it when his knee buckles under Yylfordt's negligible weight. It bows under the push of his hand and then lets him slide through up to the elbow; the spiritual pressure it's holding back rushes in prickles of heat against his palm.

It's made to hide Kurosaki's resting place from prowling hollows.

Yeah. Yeah, that's... Real close to perfect.

If. Perfect, if.

2.  Days on a wire

"Madara. Thank you for coming."

Madara planned on taking it to his grave, but he had once or twice, on maudlin evenings, indulged in wondering how it would go if he and his estranged childhood friend got to meet at the river again. How Hashirama's voice would sound (overjoyed, surprised, annoyingly casual?), how much he would babble, how ridiculous he would act.

That quiet, reserved tone hadn't featured in any of it.

3.  What Brings Us Together

Madara had to admit it: he had assumed the daimyo would never have the guts.

4.  match & mix

"And as a mark of new alliance and the forging of bonds of brotherhood, let us now become one in truth."

Tobirama has been braced for this for weeks. Has worked on his feelings and his convictions and his memories, meditating and reframing and just, reminding himself. He is as calm and accepting as he can possibly be in the situation.

Which isn't very, but hopefully, it will suffice.

5.  black irises in the sunshine

Uchiha Madara is twenty-one the first time an attempt to steal his bloodline succeeds.

6.  The Thirteenth Hour

The moon was high but waning, a crescent too thin to outshine the stars.

7.  superhero love triangle

"You're late, Brother!"

Yuzu emerged from the darkness with ladle in hand. Ichigo yelled, in a manly fashion.

8.  Idiots Of Unusual Size

Madara’s daemon settled early.

9.  A Beast Is in the Heart

"Jaegerjaquez, where are you?"

Yawning into the phone, Grimmjow looked around himself pointedly, though there would be no way for Tousen to know it. The guy seemed to divine disrespect no matter what shape it came in; it worked for Grimmjow. Offense that still came with plausible deniability. Good enough.

"No idea. Why don't you ask Suzy?"

10. suburban ot4 (unposted)

This is how it starts: Ichigo is standing at the school gate, watching his last class of the day pour out past him. Twelve year old kids are brats, but fun too, and a lot of them wave goodbye at him. It's a contented day, satisfying and warm. A pleasantly mundane peace.

Then there's a snort to the side -- derisive, hostile. "Fucking figures."

He turns, and past the flow of carelessly happy kids there's a face he saw twice in his life and never managed to forget.

i tag... @adiduck @edenfalling @rollerskatinglizard @codedredalert​ @joisbishmyoga​  and whoever else feels like it. u.u

#writing meme #asuka writes

[iviarellereads]

The Neverending Story, Introduction

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Neverending Story, read this one!)

In which we set our scene.

A picture of a sign on a shop's front door which reads "Carl Conrad Coreander / Old Books". It's a rainy November morning,(1) when the door opens violently, tinkling the bells above it.(2) A fat little boy(3) of perhaps age ten or twelve is soaked through from the rain. When he notices that he's in a bookshop, he seems to become overwhelmed.

A puff of smoke rises and then dissipates from further in, and the narration draws attention to the resemblance to smoke signals.(4) A voice tells the boy to close the door, whether he's staying or going, and the boy does so, then peeks around the bookcase hiding the speaker. He ends up being a "short, stout man" in a leather wingback chair.(5)

The man, seeing the child, says he cannot abide children, they're good for nothing to him.(6) The child says not all children are like that, and the man raises his eyebrows and asks if he's the great exception. The child shrugs and make to leave, but the man says he's rather impolite, not introducing himself. They exchange names: the boy is Bastian Balthazar Bux, and the old man is Carl Conrad Coreander.(7)

Mr Coreander asks why young Mr Bux came into the shop in such a hurry. Bastian says he was running away from some other children who were bullying him. Bastian's incapable of doing anything to make them stop,(8) he's not physically or mentally very strong. When Bastian says one of the names the children call him, at Mr Coreander's prompting, Corander asks why they use that word, and Bastian says he makes up stories and names for things and says them aloud to himself sometimes. Mr Coreander looks thoughtful and asks what Bastian's parents think. His father doesn't say anything, and his mother is dead.

Just then, the phone rings, and Mr Coreander reluctantly goes to answer it. It's a very long conversation, and at one point Bastian's name is said.

Bastian just looks at the book Mr Coreander had been holding, which holds a sort of magnetism for him. He walks over, and touches the cover, and it's as if something clicks inside him.

Bastian had a vague feeling that touching the book had started something irrevocable, which would now take its course.

Bastian picks up the book and examines it. It's titled

The Neverending Story

Human passions have mysterious ways, in children as well as grown-ups. Those affected by them can't explain them, and those who haven't known them have no understanding of them at all. [...] In short, there are as many different passions as there are people. Bastian Balthazar Bux's passion was books.(9)

If you've never loved books as Bastian did, you may not understand what he does next. This book feels like everything he's ever dreamed of, he must have it, at whatever price. But, knowing that he has no money to pay Mr Coreander for it, Bastian… steals it. Tucks it into his coat, opens the door only just enough to slip through so the bell doesn't ring.

Outside, he starts running, getting soaked in the rain as his conscience flares to life and starts telling him off for stealing what's obviously a very rare book, "surely Mr Coreander's greatest treasure."

Still, he holds tight to it as he runs, with no particular destination yet, because he obviously can't go home. His father can't find out that he's become a thief, and if Bastian runs away, his father might never even notice that he's gone.

Bastian slows when he realizes his feet have taken him on his usual route to school without his input. The place seems dead, with everyone already in their classrooms. Bastian shuffles through the halls until he realizes there is a place here where no one will go looking for him for quite some time: the attic. Bastian turns the key in the lock, opens and closes the squeaky door, closes it, locks it behind him. Even if someone comes, they'll have to contend with the missing key from the janitor's cupboard(10) and he'll have time to hide.(11)

Soon, he adjusts to the dim light, and he starts to feel cold from his wet coat. It occurs to him that he'll be here a long time, but not that he might feel hungry or thirsty. The space is filled with junk, the discards of schoolyears past. He finds some gym mats to stretch out on, and takes off his wet coat and shoes.

He looks at the book, thinking how his class would have history about now. He wonders what's in a book when it's not open.(12) An "almost festive mood" takes him, and he settles and starts reading.

=====

(1) I'm writing this on one of the hottest days of the year so far here, so, not exactly the same mood. Also, it feels worth noting here that all Bastian's-world text is in italics in my paperback, here and in the regular chapters. It's an effective way to separate the layers. (2) I love old shops that have these. Conversely, I hate Discord servers with welcome messages. It's one thing to say "you have a customer and they might have needs" and quite another to say "We see you whether you want to be perceived or not" (since people go into shops to browse and buy, and people join Discord servers for many reasons including to check the vibes before they start talking.) This is in no way relevant to the book, just the way my brain works. (3) You know, I think this bit especially gets lost in a lot of people's minds across time, particularly because the film cast a straight-size lad in the role. (4) I'm not calling them what the book does because it's quite beside the point, smoke signals were used the world over. However, I've long since come to terms with Europe having a very strange understanding of First Nations/Native American cultures. (5) I'm sure the rest of the description is supposed to convey quite a lot of things to the reader, but I don't form mental images, I don't typically remember visual information, so a lot of this sort of thing I'm really clueless on. What do you think of the descriptions of Bastian and Mr. Coreander? Besides the statement of "suggested a vicious bulldog", I haven't any impressions at all. (6) It's unfortunate that it's still acceptable to say this sort of thing to children even today, forty years on. Children don't deserve to have to deal with your baggage, even if you really do despise them and they don't just make you uncomfortable for other reasons. Feel your feelings, but choose your actions wisely and kindly. (I don't seek out the company of children, and being responsible for them gives me stress breakouts, but the kids don't deserve to feel uncared-for because of my hangups.) (7) Do you feel like alliteration is going to be a part of the story? Or is this just a seeming coincidence to tie these two characters' fates together? I wonder if there was more alliteration in the original German. (8) Coreander seems reluctant to believe that Bastian is so helpless, but Bastian's story indicates, to me at least, that Ende had endured some of the sort of bullying that nothing seems to fix, and the way Coreander reacts rings true to my experience with most adults including school admin. I got into more trouble than my bullies/abusers ever did. (9) World's biggest mood for me. (10) The order in which things are revealed in the book maximizes the sense of mystery and floaty fantasy, but isn't all that great for those of us who don't remember every detail from previous readings and start making our assumptions at the first hint, not realizing there's a reveal literally on the facing page because we don't read ahead. (Which is to say, I had a whole nother comment here until this literally just happened to me, gosh dangit.) (11) Good old child logic. It's a finite space, Bastian, they'll still find you. (12) Schrodinger! (shakes fist at the sky)

#the neverending story #bastian balthazar bux #carl conrad coreander

[comparativetarot]

Ten of Coins. Art by Kim Thompson, from Divine Your Dinner.

PROVIDING ABUNDANCE

Your hard work has added up to the best achievement of all: the ability to reach out and help others. The community you have helped build is truly supportive of the needs and dreams of all; you are free to begin again. Whatever seed you end up planting, your neighbors are there to pitch in, ensuring health, strength, and growth, just as you’ve done for them.

Nothing says abundance quite like a giant sandwich. Make this muffuletta as an offering to your collective before you venture back out on your own. There is just as much magick to go around as there is sandwich. Olive, oregano, and thyme will bring the whole group into loving, harmonious balance and ready you for the journey ahead.

MAGICKAL INGREDIENTS: OLIVE, OREGANO, THYME, BLACK PEPPER

VEGGIE MUFFULETTA MAIN—SERVES 6

The muffuletta originated in New Orleans, Louisiana. It’s typically made with a large, round sesame loaf, layered with a mixture of olives, salami, ham, mortadella, Swiss, and provolone cheese, then sliced into wedges and served.

This is a very loose take on that sandwich. Feel free to make your own loose take on this recipe! The olive mixture needs to stay for it to be anything closely resembling a muffuletta, but you can use the rest of the ingredients listed as suggestions and add or omit any vegetables of your choice. If tomatoes aren’t looking good, use zucchini, eggplant, or squash (be sure to cook them first). If you want to add some salami or a different kind of cheese, go for it. Be wary of adding things that are very wet, though, like vinegars, because they will sog out the bread, which is a major bummer.

HOT TIP: USE THE SLOW-ROASTED OLIVES (THIS PAGE) IN LIEU OF WHOLE PITTED GREEN OLIVES TO MAKE THE OLIVE SPREAD.

1 crusty French boule (8- to 10-inch-diameter) ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup whole pitted green olives ¾ cup giardiniera ¼ cup sliced pepperoncini ½ pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into ¼-inch rounds Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper ½ small red onion, thinly sliced 2 Persian (mini) cucumbers, thinly sliced 1 large tomato, sliced 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or thyme

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

2. Halve the bread horizontally and scoop out some of the bread from the insides to make a small cavity to hold everything. Brush the olive oil on the cut sides of the bread and place on a baking sheet, cut-side up. Toast the bread until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes.

3. In food processor, combine the olives, giardiniera, and pepperoncini and pulse until coarsely chopped.

4. Spread half the olive mixture on the bottom half the bread, then add the mozzarella and season with salt and pepper. Top with the onion, cucumbers, and tomato. Sprinkle with the oregano and add the remaining olive mixture. Place the other half of the bread on top and firmly press down. Wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap and put a weight on top to press it down. (A cast-iron pan with a large can of tomatoes sitting in it works great.) Let sit for about 30 minutes, then slice into wedges to serve.

#Kim Thompson #Divine Your Dinner #Ten of Coins #Ten #Coins #Minor Arcana #Tarot

[zephfair]

Thank you so much for tagging me @mychemicalrachel You made me really think about this one! 😘💖💖💖

Rules: in a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

I’m cheating because I’m procrastinating, these are mostly series, and I feel like babbling.🤣

1. The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. 🐴🐎🐴 I was that crazy horse girl growing up and I re-read most of these books so many times, especially The Black Stallion Mystery, I could’ve quoted them. Except for the weird end-of-the-world one. That one scared me so badly, I never could finish it.

2. Man O’ War by Walter Farley. 🐴🏇🏇 Same reason, I was a horse-obsessed kid and this one about the real-life, famous racehorse moved me and made me cry and I told everyone for years that I wanted to be a jockey when I grew up. SPOILER: I did not achieve this dream. But I still remember the book and story very fondly.

3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 🌸💮🌸 I read this as a kid and thought it was lovely and sad and very moving. I listened to an audiobook of it a couple years ago, and it held up.

4. Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. As a teenager I got into the Tom Clancy novels (idk how; I think Mom bought me some used because they were very long and she thought it’d slow down my book consumption🤷), and I remember carrying this one to school for months because I would read it (656 pages!) in hidden snatches during study halls or free time. When I finished it, I did a book report on it and got an A.😂

5. Agatha Christie’s novels. I started reading them young and I think they convinced me that I and everyone I knew was eventually going to be poisoned to death or, alternatively, accused of poisoning someone to death.☠️🕵️🧐 She made me love mystery novels! I’ve started listening to her works on audiobooks and they’re still fun—overly convoluted and chock-full of dated red herrings—but fun!

6. The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. 💖💖💖💖💖 I love these books so much. I stumbled upon the first one just browsing in the library as an adult, and I read the series as quickly as possible. They’re fantastic, and some of the best first-person, unreliable narrator books I’ve ever read. They’re funny and full of adventure because Amelia and her family are Egyptologists in Victorian times. The later ones don’t hold up quite as well because of one relationship I will never like, but they’re still better than most other mysteries. The author was an Egyptologist so she gets all that right. The audiobooks with Barbara Rosenblat are amazing—she is fantastic!

7. Die for Love by Elizabeth Peters. 💀💖 Her standalone novels are definitely dated, but still more fun and entertaining than most other authors. I just love her style of writing, and she crafts characters that make me care because they feel like fully realized people. This one is in another of her series featuring Jacqueline Kirby who might be a stand-in for the author, but as I approach middle-age, I appreciate her a lot more. 🤣 This one pokes gentle fun at the romance novel industry—not the novels because the author literally wrote romance novels under another name—but the publishing industry as a whole. I have no idea if things have improved, but I hope so.

8. The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.🐢🐘❣️❣️❣️ I can’t even pick out my favorites, or the ones who’ve influenced me the most, because they all have. Finding Terry Pratchett’s works changed my life, and specifically, changed my ideas about writing and storytelling. I could talk forever about everything I love about his writing--because even the books I don’t love the most still have made me think and analyze things about life and myself--but I won’t. Just go read them. If anyone wants a specific recommendation, hit me up. There are different sagas within the series, and you can start with one of them.

9. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich was really interesting to me because her writing style is so spare and her characters are complete caricatures, but it worked for, like, five or six fun books. By the time I found her books, I was in my 20s and analyzing writing styles, and I still don’t want to write like her, but it’s okay for a really quick, action-packed read.

10. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. The first four books are incredible. The best fantasy I’ve ever read, and I will fight about this.😂🤣 I was introduced to them in college, and I read those 7 or 8 available, but especially the first four over and over. I loved his writing style, I was in awe of his world-building abilities, I adored his characters because even the ones I loathed felt like real people. I waited for years to read the final three, and I’m sorry and all apologies to Brandon Sanderson fans, but I was majorly, extremely disappointed. The change in style, the huge changes in characters, all of it was too much. I only read them once, cried a lot at the fate of some of my favorites, and was done. 😢

#sorry i went on forever #i'm struggling with job apps #STILL #and i'm ready to scream #thanks for the ask! #ask meme

[johnhardinsawyer]

Permanent Perspective

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

2 / 11 / 24 – Transfiguration Sunday

Psalm 27:1-4

Mark 9:2-10

“Permanent Perspective”

(Transfiguring Our Perceptions)

At this very moment – in an old stone chapel in Halberstadt, Germany – there is a pipe organ, similar to our own pipe organ, that is playing a piece of music.  The piece was written by a composer named John Cage and is called “Organ 2 / ASLP” – with “ASLP” meaning “As Slow As Possible.”  Now, this might sound crazy, but this particular performance in Halberstadt began on September 5, 2001 and it is still going.  When you have a pipe organ that is well-maintained and backup energy to run it even if the electricity cuts out, you can place small sandbags on the keys to hold them down and then go out and get a bite to eat and come back because the dissonant chord being played can last for months or years before the next chord needs to be played.  As of Monday of this past week, a new chord is being played – a chord that will last for months, if not longer, until it’s time for the next chord to be played.  The folks in Halberstadt hope to keep things going like this for about 639 years.  The piece will end in the year 2640 – a looong time from now.[1]  You know, it takes a lot of faith and hope – and a lot of perspective – to be part of something that you know will outlast you.  Even if “Organ 2 / ASLP” makes it all the way to 2640, it will one day come to an end – just like how most things will come to an end.  

I wonder, in the year 2640, if anyone will be talking about “Organ 2 / ASLP,” or whether or not Taylor Swift made it from her Tokyo concert to Las Vegas for the Superbowl, or whether or not Patrick Mahomes – the quarterback for the Chiefs – will be immortalized with a Superbowl win.  Just as an aside, this past week, there were some sports commentators and prognosticators on ESPN asking whether Patrick Mahomes would become immortal after tonight’s Superbowl – not in the sense that Patrick Mahomes will never die, but in the sense that he might always be known as one of the greatest to play the game – in the pantheon of great quarterbacks, along with Tom Brady and his baby blue eyes and chiseled chin.  

But in the year 2640, will anyone still be playing football, much less talking about it?  Or will people be riding around in their hover chairs – activating the Apple Vision Pro VR computer chips in their brains – and not paying attention to anything that we might think is important in the world right now.  And the year 2640 is only 616 years away – far longer than a TikTok video, but still a blip, a blink in the long arc of history.  There have been roughly 5,000 years of recorded history and roughly tens of thousands of years of humans being around (billions of years since the earth was formed).  Will Taylor Swift make it to the Superbowl?  I hope she does, but, in the big scheme of things, how much will it really matter? 

We can be so busy, caught up in the day-to-day concerns that are right in front of our eyes that it can be so hard to have perspective – a kind of long-term thinking and awareness.   

As people of faith who are seeking understanding, we will often wrestle with having an eternal and holy perspective in the face of all that concerns us in the here-and-now.  In the history of the church, there is this idea that God’s time and our time do not run at the same speed.  The holy and eternal kairos of God’s time requires us to have a holy and eternal perspective even though we all live in the chronos of our own time.  

In today’s story from the Gospel of Mark, we find three of Jesus’ disciples wrestling with kairos time in light of their own short-term chronos way of thinking.  Now, you should know that just about a week before today’s story, Jesus says that “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31)

Prior to this moment, Jesus’ message, and his actions, and his very person were just so compelling that Jesus attracted crowds wherever he went.  Jesus was healing the sick, calming storms, casting out evil spirits, and feeding thousands.  But when Jesus says this thing about undergoing great suffering and dying, things change.  His bright and hopeful good news message is now tinged with a shadow of pain and death.  It would seem that Jesus had come to do more than heal and teach.  There is more to Jesus than happy miracles and following him isn’t going to be full of joy and wonder and awe all the time.  

And yet, in today’s story, the disciples catch a glimpse of wonder and awe – their perspective changes because they catch a glimpse of who Jesus truly is.  They come to see him in another light, entirely – as God’s Beloved Son.  Truth be told, some of them had thought of Jesus in this way – and even said it out loud – but now their wonderings and imaginings are confirmed.  

You heard the story, earlier.  Jesus goes up a “high mountain” (Mark 9:2) and takes three friends –Peter, James, and John – with him.  Peter, James, and John were the first disciples that Jesus called.  He has known them the longest and they have been with him through a lot, already.

The story moves quickly.  In one verse, they go up the mountain apart, by themselves, and, in the next moment, Jesus is “transfigured” before them.  In the original language, Jesus undergoes a metemorphothe – a metamorphosis or “transformation or change in form,” from one form to another.[2]  In this case, Jesus goes from looking like – well, the Jesus that Peter, James, and John just climbed the mountain with – to looking like a heavenly being.  His close become dazzling white.  Again, in the original language, Jesus becomes “exceedingly (very) radiant, shining brightly”[3]  The slightly winded, likely sweaty, just-hiked-up-a-mountain Jesus becomes an intensely bright and powerful Jesus right before their eyes.  He is transfigured from the human to the divine.

This is one of the most curious things about Jesus – something that has puzzled people for two thousand years.  How could Jesus be both human and divine, finite and infinite, in a certain set moment in time and also eternal?  How does that work, anyway?  The early church wrestled with this.  Some folks got really passionate about how it supposedly works.  Some folks still do get passionate about it.  In the end, it’s all a big mystery.  And one of the key aspects of faith in God is coming to accept a certain amount of mystery.  We can’t explain everything about God.  This takes some perspective on our part.

In the moment on that mountaintop when Peter sees Jesus in this new and Holy light, he doesn’t have much perspective, aside from living in the present moment.  Here is Jesus, shining brightly, and miraculously appearing with Moses and Elijah – two figures from the distant past.  And so Peter speaks up and says, “It is good for us to be here.”  [Duh, Peter!  Or, should we call you “Captain Obvious”?]  “Let us make three dwellings,” Peter says, “one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (9:5)  In the original language, Peter says that these dwellings will be “tents”[4] – temporary structures.

When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time in Scouts, camping in tents.  And even though some of these tents were quite sturdy.  They were not meant to be permanent.  Nothing that you and I can see is truly permanent in the big scheme of things.  

Clearly, Peter is not thinking about this in the moment.  The Bible tells us that he and James and John are too terrified to think clearly.  Their terror is complete when a cloud overshadows them and they hear a voice saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” (9:7)  And then, when the disciples look around, they see that no one is with them anymore, but only Jesus.  

In this very short story – a glimpse of the eternal lasts just a few short verses, a few moments – and then there is Jesus, who looks very much the same as the friend they climbed up the mountain with.  You should know that when this story is told in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his friends in this moment, “. . . do not be afraid.” (Matthew 17:7). But in Mark’s Gospel, there is no reassurance.  There is just the disciples trying to come to terms with what they have seen and heard. 

I am willing to guess that most of you have not seen Jesus shining brightly on a mountain or heard a loud booming voice out of a cloud that says, “Listen to Jesus!”  If you had, chances are you might be like the disciples and not say much to anyone because everyone who heard such a story might think you’re crazy.  

So, what are we to do with today’s story?  It is a curious thing – to have some sense of the enormity and holiness and power of God but to live in the here-and-now with short-term thinking and limited perspective. 

The thing that keeps me going and grabs my attention in today’s story is not necessarily the heavenly vision part of it – though this is a powerful image – but the part in which the disciples have experienced the incomprehensible and then they look around and see only Jesus, their friend and teacher, the One whom they know who has shown them a new way to live.

We might go our whole lives and never see some grand vision of who God is, apart from what we might read in the Bible or hear about in church.  And we might go our whole lives – with the dissonance of the world ringing in our ears – worried about a lot of things that don’t amount to much in the scope of the eternal.  But Jesus is still with us, planting seeds of the eternal, showing us a new way to live, all-the-while giving us glimpses of something beyond ourselves and the troubled world we know.  It is Jesus who makes every moment – no matter how small and fleeting – Holy, if we are open to seeing things this way.  

You know, it takes a lot of faith and hope – and a lot of perspective – to be part of something that you know is bigger than yourself.  We are temporary beings, concerned with temporary things, but we are loved by an eternal God who invites us into a way of seeing and hearing and living that is bigger than just us.  

There is a song called “Look Long” by The Indigo Girls, one of my favorite groups.  The song is waaaay shorter than 640 years and the lyrics are all about trying to think deeply about the eternal and our place in it.  The last verse of the song goes like this:  

Me and Marsha went walking up in northern Minnesota On a night so freezing cold the earth stood still She talked about the prophecies and the future generations And said will you keep the faith I said I will, I will, I will So we argue and we wrestle and we claim conviction But we might as well be flipping coins More would be revealed if we'd adjust the focus On the shortest distance between two points Because these aren't the best of times and they're not the worst Just like the edge of the earth is an illusion God bless our brave little hearts and our inherent limitations And our short-sighted plans and our collusion Look long, look long, look long Look long, look long, look long[5]

May God grant us the vision to look long – to change our perspective to what is permanent as we live in the present, trusting that Jesus – who lived, and suffered, and died, and rose again – is still with us in every small, but Holy, moment.  

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

--------

[1] https://www.npr.org/2024/02/06/1229217832/germany-john-cage-slow-organ-2-aslsp.

[2] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979) 511.

[3] Bauer, 768 and 473.

[4] Bauer, 754.

[5] Saliers, Emily and Ray, Amy, “Look Long,” 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=576_tVWHi-Y.

[calyxaomphalos]

The Ghosts of Windy Ridge

Turn #36, three components

location #11 - crossroads - Frontage Road Crossing (6) neighbor #8 - Inge (very strong) (4) item #14 - brings a smile to my face

9 April 2022, Saturday Night

Another common offering to spirits to help open the way in matters facing some blockages is to cast three copper coins into the crossroads. There were surprisingly few places in Windy Ridge where roads actually crossed each other. By far, most intersections were some form of tee. The highway crossed over a couple roads. 'Over' being the operative word. To be a true crossroads intersection, there needs to be at least two roads and they need to cross each other.

Fortunately for me, the one true crossroads here in town is just down the road from the Yellow Cross, not quite to the highway itself. It's a little frontage road which connects up with the road to the Spring Lake, paralleling the highway for a bit. The point being, the one actual crossroads here was just a ten minute walk down from where I'd parked for my ritual. It seemed more sensible to walk down there, cast the coins, and then walk back. It was either that, or a drive-by, but it doesn't have the same sort of personal touch as approaching on foot.

The last thing I'd need is for some drunk or some young speeding teen to come whipping around headed up to Timmy's and side-swiping me. I was glad to be wearing a light gray shirt. The Moon was a good first quarter, so half illuminated. I crossed the road so I'd be walking with any traffic. There wasn't any sort of a sidewalk, but the shoulder of the road was firm and made for easy walking.

It was blessedly free of traffic the entire time I was headed from the Yellow Cross to the Frontage Road Crossing. I held the three shiny pennies in my left hand. I'd specifically picked out the brightest ones from all the coins I had. Holding them close to my mouth, I blew on them and then cast them into the center of the crossroads.

I crossed back over and began to head back up to my car when I saw someone walking up along the frontage road itself. They must have seen me as well because they waved and hustled along to intercept me. Getting a bit closer, I recognized Inge, the large woman I'd met on Wednesday morning doing her 'weight training' out at Spring Lake by moving large boulders.

"Hello, Inge! Don't tell me you've been moving rocks all day, eh?"

"Hullo, Serren! I have moved many rocks today, ja, but not all day. It is good to be strong, is it not?"

We walked along together back toward the Yellow Cross and my car. "Do you compete in weight lifting events?" I asked, trying to keep up with Inge's long strides.

"Ja, ja, county champ 2019. 2020 and 21 got called off because of pandemic. That is why I move the rocks, ja?" Inge stopped and fished in her pocket. She pulled out a small coin-like object and gave it to me. "I have many, is like a fancy business card, these winner tokens."

It was a lightweight stamped aluminum token a bit larger than a quarter. It had the county seal on one side, and "Inge Ziminia Champ Lifter 2019" on the other, along with a little trophy shape and a #1 symbol. I smiled and put it in my pocket.

"Thanks!" I replied.

Just a few yards later, we got to the Yellow Cross. "Here's my car, Inge, can I give you a lift anywhere?"

"No, thank you, I must run. I would be running already but wanted to walk slow to talk with you. Please have a good night and take care!"

"OK, you too," I replied, but Inge had already taken off at a steady jogging pace, disappearing up the road headed toward Timmy's Diner.

#the ghosts of windy ridge #writeblr #nanowrimo #over the mountain

[whentherewerebicycles]

+

#really intense advising meeting this morning #i don't really want to process it on the internet (i made macky listen to a little tiny bit of processing) #but sometimes i am good at my job & feel deeply that i am engaged in meaningful and purposeful work #one thing that helped me prepare for this mtg was venting my frustrations in writing first - letting myself have the least generous reaction #and then taking ten very very slow 'in for 4 - hold 4 - out for 8' breaths #and then writing down my core values for engaging with students (to remind myself of how i want to be present with kids) #and then writing down a list of three things that i thought were really important for us to grapple with in the meeting #and then spending some time thinking about how i could bring the two lists together: the core values/practices of engaging students + #the hard truths/helping the student take accountability #and then i came up with a little exercise for us to do so that i wasn't lecturing the student but was asking questions #and giving them lots of space to talk through it and arrive at an answer organically #the impulse to lecture is strong especially when you feel like someone has really messed up a situation and you want to jump in #and immediately tell them how to 'fix' it #but i remind myself: that is not learning - that is just telling #and also just my understanding of the situation or my assumptions about what's going on with the kid are often wrong or incomplete #i want to record this because i think that method of preparing for the meeting was really helpful #and the meeting itself was emotionally heavy but i think really helped us both understand the other better #but yeah ok. what the preparing allowed me to do was #to vent all the negative/frustrated/'why didn't this WORK' feelings first - expressing them instead of repressing them #so that they didn't end up leaking out as disapproval or castigation in the meeting - bc i made space for myself to express them #and then the breathing thing helped me create some separation between the angry brain and the calm compassionate brain #reconnecting with & reminding myself of my core values for engaging with kids helped me not get stuck on the 'problem' we were meeting about #but instead approach the meeting in a more holistic way - focused in empathetic listening & not assuming i know what's going on & #on being an emotionally steady consistent non-punishing person in a kid's life #and all of that combined with making the list of the tough love/hard truths we needed to address #helped ground the compassion - or like helped me remember that #compassionate teaching and mentoring isn't about 'letting kids off the hook' or communicating to them that choices don't have consequences #but is actually about helping them understand and work through the consequences of any choice (positive and negative) in an empathetic way #giving them space to make their own mistakes and then providing a safe/compassionate space for them to emotionally process failure & #take accountability for their actions & reflect on what the experience has taught them

[baoshan-sanren]

Hi...how are you? If you don't mind me asking what is your top 5 fav danmei novels (until now)? And why? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....

jfhdkhgfdjhdjks I JUST finished Peerless so that’s going first on my list bc I am weak and I WANT MORE

Peerless (无双) by Meng Xi Shi - (jjwxc link) (chapters 1-187) (extras 1-4) (not explicit) I am fckn IN LOVE with this novel. Feng Xiao and Cui Buqu are the most brilliant fucking morons I’ve ever met in my life. This is a slow build of all the slow builds, murder, intrigue, so much stupidity, court dramas, martial arts fights, levels of arrogance that would make even Yan Wushi shake his head (who does show up in a tiny little cameo in one of the chapters). The book is split up in five arcs that allow for a pause in between, if you find 190+ chapters to be too much for a continuous read through, but I would have flown through them in a space of a few days, if life hadn’t turned upside down on me. Now that I’m finally done, I miss these morons more than I’ve ever missed two fictional characters. This novel will def end up in my top five for a long time.

The Wife is First (妻为上) by Lu Ye Qian He - (jjwxc link) (chapters 1-5) (chapters 6-85 ongoing) (explicit) This is still, by far, the most feel-good danmei I’ve ever read. Jing Shao dies, then gets to relive his life all over again from the night of his wedding to Jun Qing. The beginning may be rough for some readers bc Jing Shao, despite getting another chance at life, has nonetheless arrived too late to prevent his first offense against the man he married (can you hear me screaming about hurt/comfort!). But from that point on, he is determined to do things differently, so the story that had been one of misery in his previous life, turns into one of love and devotion (and some very satisfying court scheming) in this one. It is an extremely satisfying read, and the relationship between the two mains, despite its rough start, is so goddamn lovely, I can’t recommend it enough. 

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (人渣反派自救系统) by Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù - (physical novel purchase link) (chapters 1-80) (extras 80-98) (chapters 1-53 ongoing) (explicit) Yeah, this is my baby. I’ll admit off the bat I’ve read svsss at least ten times, which is five times more than either tgcf or mdzs. It’s hilarious, frustrating, insightful, feral, infuriating, and pretty fucking amazing, all at once, and all of it overlapping. I’ve written essays upon essays about mxtx’s creative choices in this novel, most of which will never see the light of day. This damn thing is so ridiculously rough on the surface, but svsss, for me, is like a damn onion, and every time I read it, I peel more layers off and find something else new underneath. I fucking love this damn novel, and you will only pry it from my cold dead hands. 

Lord Seventh (七爷) by Priest - (jjwxc link) (chapters 1-5) (chapters 6-7) (chapters 8-32) (chapters 33-76) (extras 1-3) (semi-explicit?) It’s kind of a crime that this is the only Priest novel on this list, but if I can only list five, I’m gonna try and not double up on authors. Highly, highly, recommend this, especially to people who plan to read Faraway Wanderers. Zhou ZiShu’s background doesn’t take up a large part of the story, but the environment in which he thrived at court tells you much more about him as a person than the first fifty chapters of tyk do (and in much more stark terms). Jing Beiyuan is an absolute fucking delight, a man who had reincarnated multiple times, but managed to keep all of his memories of his previous (pretty terrible) lives. His sense of humor is therefore honed to the nth degree, and he is simultaneously a giant gremlin who takes nothing and no one seriously, but is also utterly done with everyone’s shit. Basically a story about being destined to forever be entangled with another person, and then deliberately choosing not to be. I love this goddamn novel to pieces. 

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (二哈和他的白猫师尊) by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat - (jjwxc link) (chapters 1-4) (chapters 5-149 ongoing) (heavily explicit) This fucking novel haunts me. It’s been over a year since I’ve read it, and I still sometimes lie awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering about the nature of life, love, forgiveness, and redemption (and then I curse Meatbun to high heaven). I once described reading 2ha as being stuffed feet-first into a wood-chipper for 200 out of 300+ chapters, and I still hold to that description. But this is, hands down, one of the most hauntingly beautiful novels I’ve ever read. To anyone who intends to read it, I highly recommend checking out a detailed list of content warnings first, buying three boxes of tissues, and being ready to have your life ruined for good. 

Once again, I ask those who are willing and able, to buy the original novels and support the authors. (jjwxc buying guide for english-speakers here)

#danmei #novel recs #THANK YOU LOVE! #this was fun! #thanad-zid #ask for ts