Golden Delight, 8479 Garvey Ave, Ste 101A, Rosemead, CA 91770
Golden Delight is an upscale yet still reasonably priced Vietnamese and Cantonese restaurant. The menus are so thick with full color pictures. Typically there’s one or two items per page. One menu booklet has Vietnamese food (pho, noodle soups, vermicelli bowls, summer rolls, curry, fish) and the other menu booklet has Chinese food (e.g., peking duck, noodle soup, Hainan chicken).
Bun rieu ($13.50) also called ground shrimp, egg, and tomato soup with vermicelli: What they served looked a lot like the bun rieu menu picture: two cubes of pork blood, fried tofu cubes, large pieces of tomato, a meatloaf cube made out of pork and crab, slices of cha lu, big pieces of bone in pork that had been simmered in broth for hours, a medium thin rice vermicelli, and a clear broth. They served it with a plate of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, cabbage, jalapenos, and a lime wedge and a dish with fish sauce, chili sauce, and shrimp paste. I was hungry but could only get through half the bowl of bun rieu. It was loaded with noodles and the other things I mentioned. The broth was very nice – slightly sweet from the tomatoes, slightly funky from the fish sauce and fermented shrimp paste, light but flavorful. The noodles were nice – separated, not overcooked, soft. The pork on the boiled bones was tough though and the tofu puffs just seemed like empty fried shells. The crab flavor was on the weak side.
It’s brightly lit, large restaurant with a fish tank by the door and huge flatscreens that show someone cooking some of their dishes. They play piano lounge instrumental music. It’s relaxing. They have large tables so it looks like a good place for banquets and large gatherings.
Golden Delight has its own parking behind the restaurant. Service was slower than usual for a Vietnamese restaurant. I went during an off peak time and a lot of people were dining there. Must be a popular place.
Blake: (giving a speech to a bunch of rowdy Faunus activists as new Chieftess of Menagerie and leader of the White Fang) While the past leaders of this organization and kingdom have done their best, I intend to build up on that foundation and make-
Deer!Faunus: Aren't you in a relationship with a human?!
Blake: My relationships do not affect my ability to-
Mouse!Faunus: How can we trust a leader who willingly became a humans pet?!
Faunus Crowd: (start muttering)
Blake: (grumbling mentally as she tries to think of what to say)
Yang: (blares through the crowd on Bumblebee 2.0 with a giant trailer hitched off to the back) Blaaaaaake!
Blake: (sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose) What is it, Yang? I'm a bit busy, and you just plowed through a bunch of Faunus activists.
Yang: (parks and pulls off her helmet) Yeah, sorry about that, but I'm in a pickle. (Hops off the motorcycle and opens up the top hatch of the trailer - revealing hundreds of freshly baked cookies)
Blake: ...........
Faunus Crowd: ...........
Blake: What?
Yang: Nora, Ruby, and I decided to get the Remnant World Record for the number of cookies baked at the same time. We used my semblance to bake, Ruby's semblance to mix, and Nora's sheer crackhead energy to get everything else. But now we have too many cookies!
Blake: ......Nora and Ruby can't just eat them?
Yang: They already ate 3 trailer fulls! (Projects picture of Nora and Ruby in cookie comas) I remembered that you had a public event thing and thought maybe attendees would want some!
Blake: (lightbulb moment) Actually, that would be amazing! Thank you so much, dear, for being so considerate.
Yang: (confused by the diabetic sweetness dripping from Blake’s voice and slowly shuffles up to the podium as a few Faunus that hadn't been assholes go up to the trailer and grab a cookie) Uh, did I do something wrong? I can leave if I'm intruding.
Blake: (covers her microphone before kissing Yang on the cheek) Apparently, a butch, golden retriever lesbian bringing homemade baked goods is all you need to calm a bloodthirsty crowd.
I feel like for the first few years of guardianship Darius and Hunter really struggle to figure out how to refer to each other.
Like it's easier for Hunter, he pretty quickly settles on "guardian" for explaining their relationship to other people and just referring to Darius by name when talking to the man himself. Overtime the phrasing gradually warms, becoming "foster parent" and eventually, once Hunter's already an adult old enough to move out, "Dad".
(Sidenote: he doesn't move out til he's in his mid to late twenties, bc he's under no obligation too, Darius low-key doesn't want him too, and the two of them want to make up for lost time in a sense, since Hunter only had 2 years of legal dependency on Darius before aging out of the system. Darius adopts Hunter retroactively as an adult)
Darius on the other hand has a real conundrum on his hands for those first few years. He has a lot of options! But "ward" is too formal and makes it sound like Darius picked him up off the street like after his parents were murdered, "apprentice/student" isn't really accurate considering the focus of Darius and Hunter's relationship has less to do with Hunter learning magic and more to do with Hunter being housed and fed. "Kid" and "foster son" are there...but...
Look, Darius isn't going to refer to Hunter more familiarly than Hunter refers to him! He's not gonna make it WEIRD. He's not a dad, because Hunter doesn't want/need him to be (and also parenthood is scary <3). Darius doesn't know the first thing about being a dad, despite how his friend group teases him.
Eda and Eberwolf are the two who are worst about it. They torture him with how 'fatherly' he's allegedly being (allegations Darius will DENY til his GRAVE!!!) And Eda specifically compares his journey to hers, saying it always starts off with you referring to them as your apprentice (again, Darius doesn't plan on doing that), as your roommate (...kinda weird in Darius' opinion? But okay Eda), or even your pet (????HELLO???). But eventually, they always become your dumb kid when you least expect it.
She's had a couple cups of appleblood by this point, but Darius knows on some level she's right and he's steadfastly ignoring that fact, even as Eber continues to refer to Hunter as his "cub" (kinda cute but Darius doesn't know how Hunter would feel being compared to an animal). The only people who are even remotely reasonable about all this (besides Lilith who's a bit disinterested in kid talk) is Raine and Alador, who both sort of neutrally, a bit awkwardly refer to Hunter as Darius' Boy.
Darius referring to Hunter as "my boy" is funnily enough what sticks the longest before it evolves to son boy. Hunter's crushing it at a derby match? Darius is whooping and cheering, yelling "THAT'S MY BOY!!!" At the other parents in the stands. Hunter is doing something dangerous or inadvisable where others can see him? "Darius, your boy-" "AHH! MY BOY". Hunter, a year into his stay with Darius finally comes clean about everything to do with him being a grimwalker, and is afraid that he's going to go back to seeing him as just an inferior replacement for Darius' beloved mentor? Darius (who has just had to process some of the most bonkers, emotionally heavy information in his life) gently, hesitantly puts a hand on his shoulder (the 'good' one Hunter doesn't mind people touching), and says that Hunter's much more than that. He's Darius' Boy and he's not going to kick him out or get angry or love him any less for things out of his control. It's good. They're good.
Like I said, it evolves over time and 'boy' becomes somewhat obsolete as the two get caught up in the joy of finally feeling able to explicitly refer to each other as family. But unlike "guardian" or "ward" the word never gets fully retired. Even when Hunter is 30 and is arguing that he's more of a man than a boy now, he is still getting referred to by Darius as "his boy", the way some parents never really stop calling their adult kids baby or kiddo (Camila and Eda respectively btw).
Hunter makes one of those corny matching shirt sets at some point for a father's Day gift when he's 17/18, where the two shirts say "if lost, return Boy to me" (Darius) and "I'm Boy" (Hunter). Hunter mostly did it so he could own a funny shirt that says "I'm boy". Darius openly weeps upon seeing them. Like Oh my Titan he's boy. He's my boy. Oh wow
"Not okay" was in fact implying Both of those two things and I applaud you for getting that. I have Feelings about the ghost children and Evan especially but I cannot properly articulate them all in a single ask. Your faulty springlock idea is scarier & sadder because it implies it'd be *slower.* Michael desperately trying to get out of the suit, while Evan just as desperately pleads for him to stay. ("It's just like a hug, Mikey. Please just stay still. Please, stay. We can be friends again.")
"It's just like a hug" anon i ADORE your eye for angst; please know that I am shaking you by the shoulders in the most affectionate way possible for that heartbreaking line of dialogue.
Now I'm stuck daydreaming about Michael trying to claw his way out as Evan slowly but nonetheless desperately opens the springlocks on him + your line of dialogue from your last ask, with Evan saying "it will only hurt for a moment."
Despite how slow and agonizing impaling Michael with the faulty springlocks proves to be, Evan wasn't lying when he said it would only hurt for a moment. At least, he didn't think he was lying.
At this point, Evan was been in alone and in pain for years. In his perception, a few minutes, hours, or even days of Michael slowly bleeding out from the springlocks is nothing compared to the endless pain Evan has already been through-- and is even less when compared to the eternity of peace, love, and happiness he and Mikey will have together when the springlocks finally finish.
That's why it hurts so much more when Michael keeps trying to claw his way out and escape-- doesn't Michael see that the "brief moment" of pain will be nothing compared to the two of them having each other forever once its done? Michael said that he was sorry, that he loves Evan-- so shouldn't Mike be willing to do this for him? Why is Mike still going so far out of his way to hurt him when Evan is clearly presenting Michael the better-- no, the best possible option for the both of them?
I'm also currently toying with the idea of Evan physically feeling the pain as Michael tears apart the suit while trying to escape.
It hurt when Michael took apart the suit to hide inside it, but Evan looked past that at the realization that this was the first human touch and interaction he had gotten in a long, long time. But when Mikey tries ripping the suit off to escape? Evan feels that, too-- feels Michael not just emotionally tearing him apart, but physically as well.