#in order to drive like 8 hours plus continuously day after day on four hours sleep

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

me googling what a triple red eye is. sam.

#three shots of espresso I GET i used to do that on the daily but #three shots of espresso IN filter coffee #dean give that kid your share of the prescription stimulants and cocaine I KNOW you're living off of #in order to drive like 8 hours plus continuously day after day on four hours sleep #the most unrealistic thing abt spn is the fact that they took out dean smoking. also the full extent of his likely drug abuse #denied representation for ppl barely held together at the seams by substances!! #i could talk allllll day about this show's weird morality around it all #and what can be left in and played for laughs (alcoholism) vs what gets notably left out (smoking. drugs etc) #vs what gets problematised (metaphorical substance abuse) #at what point does a substance abuse problem stop being a manly coping mode and turn into the 'weak' man's burden? #j.txt

[myrandomfandomramblings]

The Beach - a The Rookie/Chenford Fanfic

“7-Adam-11, show us responding,” Jackson said over the radio as Lucy leaned back against her headrest defeatedly.

“I didn’t think I’d ever say this but I really don’t want to go to the beach.” “Like ever again,” she added even as she took the first turn towards their destination. 

LA was 4 days into a record heat wave and over that time Lucy had learnt a few important things 1) Unsurprisingly, extreme heat causes everyone to flock to the ocean. 2) It also makes people extremely irritable. 3) Lots of irritable people packed together in large groups leads to chaos and 4) wool uniforms are not ideal attire for patrolling beaches in temperatures around 100. 

So after 4 days she was over it. She had spent Monday with Jackson getting sworn at, honked at and nearly run over as they directed traffic at the busiest beaches in the city. She spent Tuesday with Tim breaking up beach brawls, confiscating contributing alcohol and watching bikini clad woman flirt with Tim. At least 8 different woman had asked him to rub sunscreen on them or suggested he take off his shirt to cool down. She had rolled her eyes so much she had given herself a headache. Although it may have been the sun. Yesterday, her and Nolan and responded to a report of a missing child who was feared drowned or kidnapped but turned out had followed the music of an ice cream truck four blocks and was found, about 30 minutes after the officers arrived, happily eating a fudgiscle. However, they were kept at the beach for the remainder of their shift by various citizens with complaints ranging from seagulls, wasps and possible sharks to thieves, streakers and possible melanoma. 

Now her and Jackson were headed back to a beach where the adjacent shrubbery was currently being consumed by a blazing bush fire, which was in all likelihood human caused and spreading fast. Therefore all hands were on deck as the LAPD worked with the LAFD to keep civilians safe, extinguish the fire and investigate its cause.

The rest of her shift passed in a blur as they interviewed witnesses, cordoned off the area, issued evacuation orders, ensured those who needed it got medical attention, joined a production line passing large buckets of water from the ocean to where the fire was burning and debriefed with their team which included Nolan and Tim, and Lopez and Harper. Luckily in the end, the fire was successfully extinguished, those living nearby were safe and happily back in their homes and the perpetrator, a cigarette butt flicker, was caught. But not until nearly 11pm by which time the entire team was exhausted, scorching and covered in soot and ash. With their job done the team of 6 headed away from the scene back along the beach to where they had parked their shops. They were right on the sand where they left them to create a barrier preventing people from wandering toward the fire and the beach around them was abandoned. Likely due to a combination of the late hour, the fire itself and the fact that the stretch of beach they were on was only accessible by walking about a mile from one of the main beaches on either side or by scrambling down the steep cliff behind them.

“Anybody want a cold one,” Nolan asked when they reached the vehicles, “well a hot one I guess” he amended as he pulled out a six pack he had confiscated earlier in the day from the trunk of his shop. Everybody made a face at the offer of hot beer but since the only light around came from the shops headlights shining in the opposite direction Nolan didn’t see them.

“Screw it, I’ll take one,” Angela said.

“Wesley and Patrice took the baby to meet the extended Evers clan so I have nowhere to be and now that I’m no longer breastfeeding I can have whatever I want. Even if that’s gross beer that’s been sitting in a hot car all day,” she explained.

“If we dig a hole near the water line it will fill with cold seawater and we can make a makeshift beer fridge,” Jackson suggested but Angela had already opened her can and was sipping away.

“I’ll help dig the hole,” Nyla offered. “I’d rather hangout here then go back to the station to do paperwork and Lila’s with her dad so I also have no where I have to be.”

“I’ll call Grey and tell him we’re clocking out and will do the paperwork in the morning,” Tim offered.

“Your staying?” Lucy asked a little too excitedly, “what about Kojo?” she quickly added.

“Tamara called several hours ago and offered to give him dinner, take him for a walk and put him to bed.”“She saw the fire on the news and rightly assumed we’d have our hands full,” he finished.

30 minutes later they all sat in the sand around their makeshift beer fridge. Shoes, socks and button up shirts discarded and pants pulled up to their knees. 3 flashlights were in the middle of the group, pointing skyward, their handles buried in the sand. They laughed as they went around and told stories.

“How is it still this hot?” Lucy asked a while later.  It was after midnight and the temperature had yet to even consider dropping below 90. 

She pulled her white t-shirt away from her skin fanning, herself. 

“I’m going swimming,” she declared ready to stand up.

“Your going swimming? Right Now? In that?” Tim asked gesturing to her cotton tee and woolen pants.

Lucy shook her head. “I was just going to go in my underwear but now that I think about it I don’t really want to have to drive back to the station in soaking wet underwear.”

Tim nodded as if this is what he expected but Lucy didn’t see him and continued.

“I guess I’ll just skinny dip,” she concluded.

Tim managed to both spit out and choke on the sip of beer he had just taken.

Everybody else’s faces were turned towards Tim and wearing amused expressions but they were saved his annoyance due to the limited light and the fact that his attention was still fully on Lucy.

“What?” She asked Tim, “It’s not a big deal. It’s dark. Plus everybody here has already seen me naked.” 

“Well except you,” she added, which earned another spit take from Tim.

Lucy rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress a smile. She loved seeing Tim flustered, especially when it was her doing.

“What?” He finally managed to ask in a strained voice after a few harsh coughs to clear his throat.

“Everybody here’s seen Lucy naked but you,” Lopez offered, “although that was bound to change sometime soon,” she added.

Lucy and Tim both turned to look at her wide eyed. Nolan and Nyla were both hiding smirks and Jackson wore an expression of mainly panic as he spoke.

“She’s drunk. She has no idea what she’s saying,” Jackson offered before turning to look daggers at Angela and whisper something in her ear.

Lucy thought she heard the words bet, interference and disqualified but she couldn’t be sure.

When he finished Angela addressed them again. “Sorry, apparently my tolerance took a nose dive since pre-pregnancy. I didn’t mean anything by that I got you mixed up with Smitty and what’s her face,” she finished waving her hand disparagingly.

“Hmm,” Lucy said clearly not buying her lame excuse but Tim still had his mind on other things.

“Why has everybody else here seen you naked?” he asked, his tone almost suspicious.

Lucy laughed. “Are you jealous?”

He fixed her with his best TO look. “No.”

Lucy suppressed the urge to roll her eyes yet again and answered.

“Communal showers at work,” she began gesturing to Nyla and Angela. “Best friends and roommates” she added pointing to Jackson. “Life gets crazy. Sometimes closing doors or throwing on clothes just isn’t a priority,” she explained seeing Tim’s confused expression. “Also we had to help each other into and out of the bath after we were injured.” She didn’t have to specify her kidnapping or the beating Jackson took to take down Doug Stanton. This group knew. “It’s kind of ironic that when everything hurts all you want is a warm bath but when everything hurts it’s nearly impossible to get yourself into and out of a bathtub,” she finishes. “Oh and Nolan and I used to date.” She says it as almost an afterthought, super casual. But all the former TOs still look at her with shock.

“You and Nolan?” Nyla asks with a laugh. “Really?” “No offense,” she adds addressing Nolan.

“Ah, none taken?” Nolan replies, clearly confused by her reaction.

“When?” Lopez asks looking between the two P2s.

“For a couple months while we were in the academy. We called it off shortly after we started at Mid-Wilshire,” Nolan supplied.

“Wow, I just can’t picture it,” Angela continued shaking her head.

“Why would you want to picture it?” Tim spat. Then seemed to catch himself and schooled his scowl back into a blank expression.

“Why’d you call it off, anyway?” Angela asked. Half actually curious. Half just trying to do her friend a solid and take the attention off him.

“Bishop warned me that dating a fellow cop would brand me and could ruin my career,” Lucy answered and thought she saw Tim flinch. It was impossible to tell for sure with just the flashlights, nevertheless she added, “Somethings matter more-“ she was staring right at Tim now “-are worth the gossip, the assumptions, the risk.” As she said it she saw his expression change but she couldn’t read it. “But our relationship wasn’t one of those things. We’re better as friends, anyway,” she finished addressing the whole group but looking at Nolan specifically for confirmation.

“Agreed,” Nolan nodded holding up his beer.

“To friends,” Jackson said clicking his to Nolan’s.

“To friends,” everybody joined in clinking their cans together.

“So who’s coming skinny dipping with me?” Lucy asked as she started to make her way back to the vehicles where she could leave her clothes in a place where they’d stay sand free.

“I will,” said Angela, “pregnancy and caring for a baby really makes modesty go out the window. The two beers I’ve had don’t hurt either.” She began to follow Lucy to the cars.

“I’m in,” Jackson offered, “with you two practically glowing in the dark nobody will even notice me.” He teased as he got up to join them, earning a playful shove from Lucy.

“Nobody’s here to see anything anyway.” She retorted.

“Go ahead. I might join you later.” Nolan said and Nyla and Tim nodded in agreement.

10 minutes later. Lucy, Angela and Jackson’s clothes were inside Jackson and Lucy’s shop and they were out in the ocean. It dropped off quickly so they weren’t that far away from the beach even though the water came to just below Lucy’s shoulders. After four days of blazing heat and the fire on top today, the cool water felt like heaven to her. She dipped and dove through the water, relishing the cool and wiped at her face and hands to remove the soot that had coated them earlier. Beside her Angela was trying to show Jackson what her son does when they put him in the water. This led to reminiscing about childhood summers spent at the beach or in backyard and community pools. And before they knew it they were playing old games from those days. John and Nyla had joined them by this time. Claiming some combination of escaping the heat, joining the fun and more beer as the motivation. They were currently having breath holding contests.

“I win!” Jackson exclaimed as he came up for air to find everyone else already up.

“You cheated,” Lucy argued, “I saw you come up while I was still under. I had my eyes open.”

“I did not. Plus it’s pitch black under there you couldn’t possibly have seen anything.”

“Did Jackson come up?” Lucy yelled at Tim who was still sitting on the shore.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t watching,” he replied casually with a slight shrug.

“Yes you were,” Angela argued, “you haven’t taken your eyes off Lucy since she got in here,” then realizing what she said she quickly ducked back under the water. 

Everybody still above the surface froze.

Then after a beat. “So did he come up or not. I need to know if I won,” Nyla asked, all business.

“He floated to the surface but didn’t lift his head up. He won,” Tim offered defeatedly.

“Told you!” Jackson bragged.

“Rematch. 3,2,1 go,” shouted Nyla as everybody ducked back under the water. Lucy a split second behind everybody else as her attention was still on Tim. 

She came up about 30 seconds later just as a wave was passing by her and managed to swallow a good serving of water. She coughed and sputtered but before she knew it Jackson and Nolan were beside her and she was assuring them she was Ok just needed a bit of time to catch her breath. As she swam towards the shore to rest in the shallows she noticed Tim was just sitting back down and his pants were wet to just above the knee. But she didn’t let herself focus on it.

She swam to just in front of where he sat laying on her stomach on the ocean floor, head just above the water.

“You OK?” He asked shifting his eyes to her for the first time since she swam up.

“Ya fine, just swallowed a little water,” she assured him.

“Looks like you guys are having fun out there,” he nodded indicating the group still farther out.

“Ya the water feels amazing. You can’t honestly tell me that you aren’t hot.” She had meant it literally. He was sitting in above 90 degree weather with wool pants on. But then she realized he had taken off his white shirt and his muscled chest and stomach were currently on full display and the word took on an entirely different meaning. She was thankful for the darkness as it hid her blush but even that couldn’t hide the fact that she was definitely staring. 

“The ladies on the beach the other day will be so disappointed they’re missing this,” she teased gesturing to his bare upper half, hoping to give a probable explanation for the staring.

He gave a short laugh. “Not as disappointed as the meat bags who were wolf whistling at you will be that they’re missing that.” As he gestured at her he finally let himself actually take her in. Her hair was still up in its low work bun leaving her entire back exposed. The upper half of which was completely taken up by a tattoo, he had never seen before, although the light was too limited for him to make out the design. The rest of her body was hidden in shadows except her face which was now free of soot and make-up making her look young and vulnerable. Freckles brought out by the last few days of blazing sun were speckled across the bridge of her nose. Her mouth was twisted in thought and her eyes sparkled in the light of the flashlights. She really was beautiful.

While those thoughts flew through Tim’s mind Lucy was thinking about his comment about the wolf whistlers. That had happened at the very start of their shift and lasted no more than two seconds. Lucy wasn’t even sure they had been whistling at her and she had completely forgotten about it until Tim brought it up just now. Funny that he would remember. 

 They were both pulled out of their thoughts by a sudden commotion further out in the water:

“DID YOU NOT THERE IS NO PIE!”

“DO NOT THERE IS NO DIE!”

“DO OR DO NOT THERE IS NO TRY!”

Were being yelled over each other.

“What are they doing?” Tim asked looking at the group out in the water.

They were in a circle. Jackson had just given Nolan a high five then they were under again.

“I think they are playing the guess what I said under the water game,” Lucy chuckled.

Tim was about to reply but he was cut off by “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” being shouted in unison followed by bickering about who said it first.

“I’m going back out to join them. You going to come?” Lucy asked turning her attention from the group back to Tim.

“I don’t need to be a part of that.”

“Come on Tim. You’re hot and dirty.” She still meant it literally. Really. He was covered in soot. Stupid double entendres.

He raised is eyebrows.

“Just get in the water,” Lucy said splashing water at him to vent her frustration with how flustered she was getting.

He wiped the water from his face and a small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. “Fine.”

Lucy beamed back at him as he stood up and walked back to the shop to discard his remaining clothes then turned her attention back to her friends.

“It’s not Angeles Direct, you’ve already guessed that three times,” Nyla was saying to Jackson

“That’s what it sounds like,” he argued “and it’s definitely closer to that than ‘embroidery period.’”

“That was my first guess. I heard wrong,” Nyla shot back.

“Oh ya cuz ‘and was dressed’ and ‘indoors divest’ were so much closer.”

Any further argument was cut-off by Nolan. “I’ve got it: Angela’s the best,” he said confidently.

“Yes and yes,” Angela confirmed.

“Your turn Nyla.” 

There was a brief silence as they all went back under the water followed by a flurry of screamed “this is stupid.”

“Happy now?” Came a quieter voice beside her and Lucy nearly jumped out of the water. She had been so wrapped up watching her friends she hadn’t even noticed that Tim had made his way back down the beach and was now sitting beside her in the water.

She smiled and nodded. “Aren’t you?”

He gave a non-committal shrug. “We’ll see after I get roped into whatever’s going on out there,” he offered but there was no bite to it. He was even smiling, although mostly with his eyes, as he looked at their friends.

“Well let’s go find out,” Lucy replied as she led the way into the deeper water.

As they approached the group they watched them go up and down and listened to their guesses.

“And further than game”

“Comforters at game”

“Temperatures endgame”

“Stanford is endgame”

“Checkers is a game.” “At least that’s a real sentence”

“Bradford has game?” “That can’t be right he most definitely doesn’t”

Then just as Tim and Lucy joined the group “Chenford is endgame!” Shouted by Angela who upon realizing Tim and Lucy had joined them turned to Jackson.

“This ones not on me it was your sentence.”

Jackson stood stunned for a second looking desperately between Tim, Lucy and Angela then swiftly closed his eyes and yelled “MARCO.”

There was a brief silence then Nolan yelled “POLO” and everyone was swimming away from Jackson at top speed. Everyone except Tim who was giving Lucy a look that said. “See what you got me into? I told you so.” 

But she was busy swimming off with the others, grateful for the distraction. So he rolled his eyes and joined the game. The water did feel amazing although he wasn’t about to admit that to her.

Calls of MARCO POLO and laughter filled the air as everybody took their turn being it: Jackson tagged Nolan who tagged Lucy who tagged Nyla who tagged Jackson who tagged Tim who tagged Nolan who tagged Angela who tagged Jackson who tagged Tim who tagged Lucy. Well he meant to tag Lucy. He reached his arm out and jumped towards her “POLO” but she was closer than he thought and instead of the tips of his finger tagging her shoulder he jumped right into her. He hit her hard and she responded to being knocked off her feet and down into the water instinctively by reaching for the nearest thing to prevent drowning, which happened to be him. So when he opened his eyes her arms were around his neck and her legs around his hips and her face was only about an inch from his own as she coughed up water for the second time that day.

“Are you ok?” He asked moving a piece of hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear.

She nodded but continued to cough as he absentmindedly stroked her back.

 “You caught me by surprise,” she breathed “I didn’t know we were playing full contact Marco Polo.”

He let out a relieved laugh, “I’m sorry.”

“A real Tim Bradford apology I never thought I’d see it in person,” Lucy teased earning an eye roll from Tim. This close Lucy could see all the different shades of blue in his eyes even in the dark. 

“It was an accident.”

“So it wasn’t some sort of Tim Test to see how I would handle a fight in the water?”

“No. You got your last Tim test a year ago when you stopped being my rookie.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a year already,” she said. “Then again we’ve been through enough for an entire career,” she added as her hand reflexively moved from his neck where it was playing with his hair to the tattoo on her her ribs.

That’s when it dawned on her just how close her and Tim were, pressed together without a shred of clothing between them. She had felt so comfortable and content she hadn’t realized the gravity of the situation and what it could lead to. She was about to put some space between them when his hand covered hers over the tattoo marking her supposed day of death. The day he saved her from being buried alive. Although he would say it marked the first day of the rest of her life. The day she saved herself. 

And the desire to move away died in an instant. 

“I kept it,” she said quietly, “because of what you said.” “Because it’s a reminder that I’m a survivor. And that my team will always have my back.”

Tim was looking at her with an expression more open than she’d ever seen. “I have one of those,” he replied softly lifting her hand up and moving it to rest on his lower left abdomen. She was confused at first but as she felt the skin beneath her finger tips she realized it was scarred. The scar from when he was shot on her second day and she pulled him out of the line of gunfire.

She smiled and looked directly into his eyes. 

“It’s a good thing we have each other in our lives,”

“Sure is,”

She was just about to lean in and close the distance between them when a voice interrupted.

“Hey you two. Keep it PG or get a room. This is a family outing.” It was Nyla.

Lucy laughed as she untangled her self from Tim and in that moment she realized two things. 1) this was most definitely her family and 2) she would very happily come back to the beach. Maybe next time she’d just bring Tim, maybe even as her boyfriend.

#the rookie #chenford #lucy chen #tim bradford #nyla harper #angela lopez #jackson west #john nolan

[jalapeno-princess]

“Babe, what are you doing?” You finished folding the top you were currently holding and placed it in to your suitcase before turning towards your boyfriend and observing the look of genuine curiosity on his face. Mark had just arrived home after his shift at the hospital; you had a feeling he must have been exhausted and you couldn’t blame him.

Since a few of his colleagues either called in sick or went on vacation this past week, he’s been working overtime and it was obvious the extra hours were taking a toll on his mental and physical health. But he was never one to complain and he sincerely loved being a nurse. Working in the medical field was one of the more tiresome occupations and so you understood that all he probably wanted to do was fall asleep. It was only 8:30 P.M., however, he would always go to bed as soon as he got home from work no matter what time it was.

Seeing you on the ground right outside of your closet, packing multiple pairs of your clothes away probably confused the hell out of him and he was most definitely not tired at all anymore. Sure, he came home wanting nothing more than to take a quick shower and go straight to bed with you wrapped tightly in his embrace, but now he had other plans.

“Packing.” He began to walk closer to where you were sitting and took his place next to you, his dumbfounded expression didn’t falter nor did it waver. You had to stifle back a laugh; you were confident he had an idea as to what you were doing, so you were well aware that your response wasn’t going to amuse him in any way.

“I can see that. Packing for what?”

“Girl’s trip.” Once you admitted your plans and the reason behind your packing, his look of confusion quickly turned in to that of a frown.

“I don’t remember us making plans to go somewhere. With who? Where are we going?”

“Not we Mark. Just Sophia, Riley, Julia and I.”

“Wait, what? Why? When? Where are you going? Why didn’t you tell me?” As much as you wanted to continue your packing, seeing his broken expression as he hesitantly reached for your clothes; as if he wanted to get you to stop tugged all but gently on your heartstrings.

“I told you a couple of days ago. Right after we finished—you know—“

“You mean to tell me, that you told me you planned on going on a trip with your friends after we finished making love? My head was obviously somewhere else—I was too busy in between your pretty thighs to even care about anything else but this beautiful body of yours—you did this on purpose babe. It’s as if you knew I would try to prevent you from going. I mean, you have every right to go and I’m not the kind of boyfriend to hold you back from having your fun and spending time with your friends, but any minute spent away from you feels like a fucking eternity and it’s sucks. I’m happiest whenever I’m with you and I’m sure you know it by now. No matter how shitty my day is at work, I put up with whatever life throws at me because I know I’m coming home to you. Now you’re leaving me all by myself for God knows how long—what am I going to do without you?”

When he first found you folding your clothes and sorting out your luggage, you found his curiosity extremely adorable. You expected this kind of reaction out of him; that’s just who Mark was. For someone who was only a few years away from reaching thirty, he could be such a big baby sometimes. However, that was a trait of your boyfriend’s that you admired the most about him. He was very sensitive; but that’s because he had one of the biggest hearts that anyone could own and he had a small amount of separation anxiety when it came to you.

It never bothered you though, it just showed that he loved and cared about you with his entire being. That information alone never failed to pull on your heartstrings. Seeing him so fragile right now; probably exhausted beyond belief after a long day yet on the verge of tears at the idea of being alone for a little while made you feel terrible. In the three years of your relationship, you never spent more than three days without each other. Wherever you went, Mark followed and vice versa. If you went to visit your family back home, he was right there next to you. If he went with his friends to an arcade, you would tag along even if gaming wasn’t your forte. A lot of your friends would jokingly refer to you and your boyfriend as magnets. The two of you stuck together like glue. You were never not together other than when either of you were at work.

Out of instinct and guilt for not informing him more about your plans, you crawled over to him and sat on his lap; wrapping your arms around his neck and placed a soft kiss on his jaw. He placed his face in the valley of your breasts and released a soft sigh. Mark was a firm believer in actions speaking louder than words. He would shower you with his love on a daily basis—he did almost every single thing for you. He loved being able to help you and support you in any way he possibly could. If you were tired from taking on more hours at your job; he would cook dinner of the both of you. He would also wash the dishes, do the laundry, sweep and mop your apartment and sometimes he would even prepare breakfast for you and pack your lunches.

Your boyfriend was just a very thoughtful and considerate human being. He was the definition of a gentleman and even if he would remind you that he loved you at least five times a day, you could tell by his many sacrifices; you were his entire world. Hearing him confess how bothered the news of the trip made him only caused you to regret not putting more thought in to your decision. What started off as a joke just to see what kind of reaction you would illicit out of him was now something so much bigger; something that could have been prevented.

“It’s only a week Mark—“

“A week? An entire week? Seriously y/n? How long have you been planning this for and why do you seem so okay with the thought of being away from me?”

“Well, I was actually the last one to know. The girls didn’t tell me until the same night I told you. They just assumed I wasn’t going to go because they all know I don’t want to go anywhere you aren’t. God, we sound so pathetic. Sophia is joining the peace core in July, so she wants to spend as much time with us before she has to go away for two years. I wouldn’t go if that wasn’t the reason why they planned this entire trip. Jackson and Jinyoung seemed to take the news perfectly fine and I’ve heard that they are planning a trip of their own. I’m surprised that they didn’t reach out to you—“

“That’s because unlike them, I’m so far up your ass that I probably wouldn’t have any fun at all and it would be a waste of time and money if I were just moping the entire vacation. Plus, I don’t think I’d want to go with them anyway. The last time we went somewhere together, we almost got kicked out of a karaoke bar because Jackson’s dumb ass was being too loud. Humph, I’m really going to miss you. Damnit, what did you do to me? I never used to be this sappy before but here I am acting like it’s the end of the world since my girlfriend is going somewhere; probably going to have the time of her life with her friends while I do nothing but sit here like a loser until she gets back.”

You giggled softly at his words and beamed up at him; cupping his cheek with your palm before placing a few sweet kisses on his lips.

“We’re driving to Vegas—and luckily they already decided that it’s Riley whose in charge of getting us there so I will make sure to call you and text you whenever I get the chance. Trust me, I already tried to hint towards inviting you but they were quick to disagree. No boys on this trip—“

He pouted frustratingly once you said those words and wrapped his arms even tired around your sides. “Why not? I’m the best boyfriend out of our friend group let’s be honest here baby. The girls like me the most. Jackson talks too much and Jinyoung’s a petty asshole. I’m the quiet, mysterious and lighthearted boyfriend. I promise, you won’t even know that I’m there.”

You grazed your thumb against his cheek; trying your best to stifle back a laugh at his attempts to get you to reconsider. You were confident in the love your boyfriend had for you, but you weren’t sure how far he was willing to go in order to be with you at all times.

“Babe—“

“Fine, fine whatever. Go have your fun, you deserve it for all the hard work you had to suffer through in the last few weeks. But once you’re done putting away all your necessities, I want you on all fours. I need to fuck you tonight—no love making. I’m not going easy on you at all. I’m going to make sure your pussy is numb and your legs are jello once I’m done with you. Remember, five photos a day—make it ten. Two of the scenery, three of your gorgeous face I can never seem to take my eyes off of and five nudes. Oh, and I expect gifts. I want one of those five keychains and maybe a shirt that says I left my poor boyfriend home alone so that I could lose all my money playing slot machines—“

A breathy groan fell from his pretty lips as you elbowed him in his rib cage as your way to get him to stop talking. He was guilt tripping you and you’ve been with Mark long enough to know why he would do all that he did. You were also now very horny. It never failed to make you smile at an idiot knowing how soft spoken he was and how everyone around Mark assumed he must have been such a sweet, introverted guy. If only everyone knew just how much of a dominant, rough, animalistic and forceful man he was in the bedroom.

“That sounds like a great plan. Trust me my love, I’m going to miss you just as much as you’ll miss me. Before we do anything though, what are you going to do while I’m gone?”

“Wish I was a girl. Now, take off your clothes and let me hit it from the back. Maybe I can fuck you so hard you won’t be able to move and I’ll have to nurse you back to health. Preferably with my dick.”

#got7 imagines #mark tuan #got7 #mark tuan imagines #got7 mark

[tiramisiyu]

Sorry, the link I put in probably doesn’t work m. weibo. cn/detail/4608947896717694 you’ll have to get rid of the spaces in between because it won’t let me send a link

Oml this fic was great (link here for the original), thank you for sending it in! In this house we appreciate MC for handling the four guys when they're sniping at each other like elementary schoolers.

See below cut for translation!

Part 1

Given how they’ll spend two minutes having little arguments and three minutes having big arguments when holding meetings in the investigation team, you decided to do a little something to maintain the friendship between the team members, which wasn’t very deep to begin with.

“Cheng Cheng, if friends are fighting, where should they go to make their feelings go back to normal?” After all, Cheng Cheng had the most ideas. After work, rather than rushing home, you sat at Cheng Cheng’s seat, asking for her suggestions.

(Cheng Cheng is Kiki Bennet, for those who follow global server information.)

“It’s gotta be the amusement park for sure!” Cheng Cheng’s eyes shone. “There is nothing and no place more suited for nurturing relations than the amusement park!”

As if thinking, you lowered your head. You didn’t notice how the door of the office behind you opened, then closed.

Part 2

“Lawyer Zuo, do you have time this weekend?” After making up your mind, you knocked on Zuo Ran’s office door.

“I do. What’s the matter?” He stopped arranging his items, looking gently at you.

“I want to go to the amusement park, and was wondering if you’d be interested?”

Zuo Ran froze, then remembered the dialogue he’d just heard, then immediately thought that he didn’t seem to have had any conflicts with you recently, and being mean to you due to work was also unlikely… so where did he anger you?

“Lawyer Zuo?” Seeing him silent, you felt a little anxious. Sure enough, having Lawyer Zuo go to a place like an amusement park was too difficult.

“Ah, sure.” Regardless, might as well answer and then figure it out after – so Zuo Ran thought.

Part 3

“This weekend?” On the other end of the phone, Mo Yi was somewhat surprised that you would take the initiative to invite him, though his mouth curved up right after. “Of course I have time. I have time as long as it is your invitation.”

“Awesome, then I’ll see you at the amusement park entrance on the weekend!” Having achieved your target, you hung up in satisfaction.

Mo Yi has always been kind and rarely rejected your requests. Plus, to him, the amusement park was worthy of being called a location to nurture relations, and it might even let your relationship take a step forward.

Looking at the blooming roses on the windowsill with deep emotion, Mo Yi reached out and stroked the delicate petals – “You are always able to surprise me.”

Part 4

“What’s up, thinking of me?” As soon as the call was picked up, Lu Jinghe’s mischievous voice was transmitted into your ears.

“Yeah, I was wondering if you had time on the weekend, Young CEO Lu?” You rolled your eyes, then followed his words to bring up your request. “I want to go to the amusement park on the weekend. Young CEO Lu, want to come?”

“Don’t call me like a stranger, I like hearing jiejie call my name more.” He laughed quietly.

“Lu, Jing, He! Are you going or not?” Enunciating each syllable, you recited his name.

“Don’t be so ferocious.” Sounding pitiful, Lu Jinghe said, “I’m going, of course I’m going! It’s so rare for jiejie to ask me out yourself, so how could I miss out on this chance!”

Not wanting to bother with bickering with him, you huffed quietly. “See you on Sunday 10AM, Stellis Amusement Park entrance.”

Part 5

You felt a lot more confident when inviting Xia Yan – after all, you grew up together and had planned to go to the amusement park together after reminiscing on your childhoods. If he wasn’t working, he definitely wouldn’t refuse you.

“Go to the amusement park?” Xia Yan tilted his head, looking at the photo taken at the amusement park with you, 8 years ago. “Of course it’s fine, I haven’t been to the amusement park in so long anyways, and I’ve been pretty tired out from work recently… it would be nice to go and relax.”

I hope we can relax, you thought.

“So it’s a promise then, I’ll be waiting for you at the Stellis Amusement Park entrance on the weekend.” As you expected – when the amusement park was mentioned, Xia Yan would think of when you were little. Inviting him to the amusement park was a cinch.

You hung up, picked your clothes for the weekend and placed it on the clothes rack, cleaned yourself up, then fell into the world of dreams.

Part 6

“So, why are you here?” Lu Jinghe looked with a face full of hostility at Zuo Ran, who was sitting by the flowerbed, holding two cups of hot drinks.

“When Young CEO Lu comes with someone else to the amusement park, am I not allowed to come here with my partner on the weekend to relax?” Zuo Ran stared hard at him, then lowered his head to continue fiddling with his phone.

Seeing his smug look, Lu Jinghe laughed coldly. “Coincidentally, the one who asked me here today just happens to be your partner during work hours.”

“…” Zuo Ran’s hand on the phone stopped.

“I should have expected this. If she suddenly asked me out to the amusement park, it definitely couldn’t be a simple relaxation session.” Xia Yan walked over from the other side of the round flowerbed, looking coldly at the two.

“Looks like it’s not just us.” Lu Jinghe raised his eyebrows. “Looks like she set the time to 10 o’clock to wait for a certain someone to wake up.”

Dissatisfied with Lu Jinghe’s malicious speculation, Zuo Ran placed his phone into his pocket. “Based on what I know, the amusement park opens at 10.”

Lu Jinghe: “…”

“Morning.” Mo Yi, who was standing by, nodded at everyone in greeting. Zuo Ran turned around and raised the hot beverage: “Morning.”

Xia Yan turned his head, ignoring him: “Hmph.”

Lu Jinghe said disdainfully, “Yeah, you could consider it early if you’ve only woken for an hour.”

TL Note: “Morning” and “early” here use the same word in Chinese. 

As the atmosphere became stiffer and Mo Yi was seriously considering the possibility of lowering Lu Jinghe’s behavioral grading on his family education, you finally arrived at the amusement park entrance two minutes before 10.

“Sorry, sorry I came late. So everyone already got here.” Having overslept slightly, you jogged over, still panting.

“Slow down, drink some of this hot beverage.” Zuo Ran handed the hot beverage in front of you. “I didn’t know what you like to drink, so I ordered a cup of hot milk tea for you.”

“Thank you, Lawyer Zuo!” You smiled gratefully.

Mo Yi started to become different from usual again, speaking the most acidic words with the warmest expression: “One who acts so unaccountably solicitous...”

Xia Yan followed up immediately. “Must be hiding evil intentions! Watson, you’ve got to be careful of two-faced guys like that.”

Zuo Ran: “…”

You were about to speak when Lu Jinghe cut in, sounding slightly wronged, “Jiejie, I originally thought that this was going to be a sweet weekend with only us two. Why are the three of them also here?”

“What sweet weekend.” You shot him a look. “Today is our NXX investigation team’s team-building activity day, so of course the members of the team should be here.”

Zuo Ran, Mo Yi, Lu Jinghe, Xia Yan: “…”

Ignoring their strange expressions, you held up the tickets in your hands. “Let’s head into the amusement park!”

Part 7

You originally thought that after the slight displeasure of heading out, there would be happy memories. But who would’ve thought…

“No way, Zuo Ran, you’re too scared to get on the pendulum ride?” Lu Jinghe tried to hold in his laughter. “Hahaha, who would’ve thought that Zuo Ran, the great Lawyer Zuo, so ferocious in court, would be scared of the pendulum ride, hahahahaha…”

“Lu Jinghe!” You glared furiously at him.

“Sorry, sorry.” He blocked his mouth, but his trembling shoulders weren’t convincing at all. “I usually don’t laugh, unless if I really can’t hold it in.”

“Zuo Ran, that’s pretty sad.” Xia Yan spoke concisely, looking meaningfully at Zuo Ran.

“According to the country’s laws, defamation of others constitutes a crime and can result in a maximum of three years of imprisonment, detention, surveillance, or deprivation of political rights.” Unwilling to display weakness, Zuo Ran fired back.

“It’s very normal for people to fear things. No one can avoid this, Zuo Ran included.” Mo Yi pushed his glasses up.

“Dr. Mo gets it.” You released a breath – finally, there was a peacemaker.

Mo Yi followed up by speaking to you, “So, I hope you can strive to be with someone more ideal.”

You: “…”

“How about we check out the bumper cars? I remember that Lawyer Zuo’s driving skills are excellent!” Seeing that there were bumper cars not too far off, you made a suggestion.

“You all can head in. I will watch over your purse for you outside.” Mo Yi’s expression looked stiff for an instant, though it went back to normal quickly.

Xia Yan keenly noticed the abnormality in his complexion: “So it turns out that you’ve also got things you fear, Mo Yi.”

As if pointing something out, Lu Jinghe said, “After all, things like bumper cars really are hard to bear for older people.”

Looks like Lu Jinghe’s family education final assessment for this semester won’t be able to hit minimum standards.

Zuo Ran immediately emphasized his innocence. “My driving skills can be considered decent. If you want to go, I can go with you.”

As the situation became more and more off, you decided to simply head to the next amusement park attraction.

“How about the haunted house? I went with Xia Yan when we were little, and I went with Lawyer Zuo after for a team building activity for the law firm, and the murder story script I did with Mo Yi was pretty similar.” And Lu Jinghe…

A young, vigorous guy wouldn’t be scared of this, right?

“I’m not going.” Sure enough, Murphy’s Law strikes. If anything can go wrong, it will.

“What’s the matter, does the young CEO Lu fear ghosts?” Zuo Ran landed an attack first.

Mo Yi followed closely from behind. “Who would have thought that the 1.88 metre Lu Jinghe, the young CEO Lu, would also have things he fears?”

“You really can’t go on by simply growing taller without growing brains.” Xia Yan sniped in last.

Lu Jinghe shrugged. “Being scared of ghosts isn’t a big deal. Any normal person would be scared of them. Are you all really not scared of them?”

Silence. Dead silence.

Lu Jinghe: “… Pretend I said nothing.”

You smiled, relieving this strange atmosphere. “It’s fine, everyone has things they’re not good at. Let’s head to another attraction.”

“How about we head to the pirate ship?” Lu Jinghe pointed to the nearby pirate ship. “There’s also a pirate-themed restaurant beside it, and we can head over to eat in a bit.”

“How about… we change to another one?” You pursed your lips. Was it because you didn’t check the Chinese almanac before heading out today, or was it that these four just naturally run into issues?

“Jiejie, are you scared of this one?” Lu Jinghe smiled mischievously.

You said nothing, turning around to look at Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: “…”

Smiling, Mo Yi said, “So it turns out that the great Detective Xia isn’t great with the pirate ship.”

“Even special agents have things they’re not great with?” Zuo Ran flicked a casual glance to the pirate ship, from which screams kept coming from.

Stiffening his neck, Xia Yan shot back, “Special agents are people too, so of course there are things we’re not great at!”

“Alright alright, it’s getting late, so how about we go eat?” Playing the mediator, you said, “I know that there’s an elf-themed restaurant nearby; it’s a little like the ones on Skadi Island from before.”

“Alright, I’ll listen to you. Jiejie, I’ll cover the bill for your lunch. The rest of them can pay for themselves.” Lu Jinghe winked at you.

Zuo Ran said resolutely, “Lu Jinghe, as Pax is the largest investor in Stellis Amusement Park, I thought that you would be able to take on our four lunches as the acting CEO.”

Xia Yan nodded in agreement. “After all, between all of us, you’re the only one decked out in gold and silver – you pretty much look the most suitable for a kidnapping.”

Seeing the situation get more and more unfavourable, Lu Jinghe turned towards Mo Yi who was watching them argue with interest. “As the family teacher, shouldn’t you say something to preserve your student’s interests?”

Mo Yi smiled. “I also believe that this is an excellent opportunity for you to display your respect for your teacher.”

Young CEO Lu: “???”

“…” You helplessly held your forehead. Sure enough, when these guys are together, their ages when summed up do not exceed 12.

Ignoring the immature brats arguing behind you, you walked towards the elf restaurant, facing the sky helplessly as you sighed about the usefulness of Cheng Cheng’s suggestion. The NXX today was as harmonious as usual.

#tears of themis #tears of themis translations #xia yan #zuo ran #mo yi #lu jinghe #luke pearce #artem wing #vyn richter #marius von hagen #mihoyo #yikes not a fan of the new tumblr formatting #changing fonts and stuff is a lot less accessible now #ask

[lovely-necromancy]

A Cure for Insomnia CH. 8

TW

Mentions of SELF HARM. Please be aware before reading.

“Yeah, in the end Jenna Rosencali decided that she didn't want to invite Meghhan Levei to her birthday party. And that's what started the water balloon war at eight in the morning.” Little Jo said as she scrunched her curls trying to get them to dry somewhat uniformly.

The poor eleven year old had walked into the shop soaked down to the bone. Her cousin had rushed her straight into the break room to have her get dry and change clothes. Even running across the street to Dunkin' and get her favorite breakfast sandwich and donut. Then Jo had come out not even a minute after he left and proceeded to tell you what happened, knowing her cousin probably thought she'd been bullied.

But you were different, you didn't see her as a target at all. She likes to think you see her as a little sister, one who enjoys hanging out with you. As much as she likes to think that she understands you probably just see her as the boss' kid that you have to be nice to. You don't immediately jump to her aid when things look a certain way, like just right now. You waited to hear what she had to say rather than assuming someone was mean to her because she was different. Jo knows her family just wants to protect her but sometimes she just wants them to listen to her like you do.

“It's always Megans. Lemme guess name spelt weird.” like right now, you heard her.

“Yea she's got two 'h's in the middle. Meghhan.” she laughs as you roll your eyes. She tics and yanks on her hair as she's scrunching.

“Ouch” stupid tics.

“I've got some shea moisture in my locker in the break room, want me to grab it for you? It'd help with frizz.” another reason she likes you, it took a few days before you stopped checking on her tics, so long as she didn't have scissors.

Even her family haven't mastered that and they've been dealing with her Tourettes for six years.

“Please.”

She follows you to the back for the hair masque. Letting her take what she needed you place the jar back in your locker. Letting her know she's free to it in emergencies like this or rainy days. It's not like your locker was ever locked with just you and Nate being here. And you're pretty sure Nate dipped into this emergency hair saver as well. You didn't have an extreme need for it here it was just a habit you've kept from living in muggy humidity most your life.

“How's your week been?” Jo asked as she finally settled her hair how she liked it, with help from the masque.

She startles at the frustrated noise you make as you both leave the break room.

“Bad?” she questions.

“Sort of...there's...this..it's...”

Shit, you hadn't thought about your response. With all the stress this week you just reacted naturally to the question. Who can blame you, what with your stalker being on your mind all week, minimal amount of sleep, plus the weird interaction you'd had with Brian at the start of it. Then yesterday you topped off your stress with a healthy portion of more frustration driving up to the lodge after work to see if Barclay would like some help with cooking or even shopping for the picnic. Stubborn man sent you off with a hearty laugh after getting you opinion on the vegetarian/vegan main course, eggplant teriyaki or tofu and pineapple chipotle skewers.

“Oooooooh a boy.~” she might not be your actual sister...but you're starting to understand the Cain Instinct.

“Half right I guess.” Jo starts bouncing waiting to hear more, she's probably expecting some juicy relationship drama. Sucks for her that you are probably the world's most boring twenty-four year old, and you're content with that.

“Barclay's just frustrating sometimes.”

“Wait! You and Barcl-”

“Nope.” you interrupt, “I asked him if he needed help with any cooking for the picnic and he brushed me off.” You know he didn't mean anything by it and from what everyone said he could more than handle cooking for the amount of people just fine on his own. You'd just thought it'd be a nice gesture to offer, though you did hope he'd accept. He'd been pretty quick to turn you down, had you been any one else you may have even been insulted by the speed of the rejection.

“That's what's bothering you?” Jo's face held a very confused expression on it. It was understandable since not a lot actually bothered you, especially something as small as this. However, it's not like you could tell an eleven year old 'Yea I'm kinda being stalked right now and this week has me looking at every shadow and movement differently but fortunately or...unfortunately no one seems to notice and just brush it off as my hallucinations.'

Yup, totally not the thing you confide to an eleven year old about. Especially now that you have your plan all figured out. You've planned to let the stalker continue stalking you, picking up clues where ever they may leave them. They're bound to slip up at least once after a month of following you through your routines. Should be able to find evidence to have Big Jo help you in no time.

“Well no...I've just had a lot on my mind...”

“We can talk about it.” kid's got a kind heart, but this isn't her problem and you won't put it on her.

“Nah, it's fine.”

There's a pause as silence settles over the shop front. Jeez how long does it take to get an order from Dunkin'? Jo is staring at you as if she can see every part of your being. Breaking open your soul so all your secrets are laid out on display for her. You really don't like it, it feels like being under the microscope and it's making your skin get that familiar itch under it.

“Stop staring.” thankfully she does as you ask.

“...you said it's fine...are you going to be ok though?” Damn Montessori schools, actually allowing children to pick up on emotions and meanings behind linguistics.

You have to pause when you go to respond with the polite 'Yea I'll be good'...because you hadn't given it any real thought. You've made up this best case scenario plan. A plan that requires time and a lot of it. But you never gave thought to the fact that you might not have much time at all. What if the situation was more dire than you thought...what if this wasn't simply a stalker but a serial killer and you happen to fit his MO. A cult who was looking for the perfect sacrifice for their god. And while those thoughts could also be far fetched so is the scenario that you've built up for this past week.

Even if this was a simple stalking case, who's to say it wouldn't escalate? You have an old steel baseball bat in the hall closet and you could use it in case things got dicey. But that would require it being on your person a lot more than it actually is. Maybe you could make it look like you took up going to batting cages...are there even any batting cages in Kepler?

'Fucking focus...stop the rambling. Am I going to be ok?' you think to yourself despite the roaring chaos of your mind. Even with all the possibilities being thrown around you don't have an answer. Maybe that's really the answer after all if you can't get even one 'yes' from any of the possibilities...maybe you wouldn't be ok after all. Maybe you weren't ok.

“I don't want to talk anymore.” It's said so plainly, in such a dull monotone that it throws Jo off.

Jo's not quite used to this but she understands from the two times she's seen it that sometimes you just shut down under pressure like this. This topic, whatever it is, must really bother you. She wishes there was something she could do to make you feel better, but you can be really volatile in this state. Easily going from shutdown mode to meltdown at the simplest action.

With a jolt joined by a 'yip-yup' she remembers something that might put you in a better mood. And if it doesn't she still needs to give it to you so you have it. Rushing off to the back as fast as her legs will take her, having the agility only years of dance can provide.

Nate comes back into the shop as she disappears to the back.

“Did you know the Dunkin' across the street does parties?” What? To the man's credit he had no reaction to your blank stare and lack of response. He clocked the eye contact aversion right away.

You've gone into shutdown mode. Sometimes you just go quiet and that's fine, you're like a robot in this state and if he sets you up with a task that should take all day you have it finished in a few hours.

Once when he asked you just said you needed to not talk at time and that the tasks were good ways to process thoughts. Nate was reasonably creeped out by this but you aren't hurting anyone so c'est la vie.

“Nate?” Jo's calls out from down the hall.

“Yea, I'm back. Brought food.” he set the bag on the counter and handed you the shitty hash rounds you like for some reason.

'It's only cuz they're bad, if they were good they wouldn't be worth eating.' you think as you pop one into your mouth.

Jo comes twirling back into the room. In a broad sweep of motion kicks her foot off the floor to do one final dramatic twirl that ends in a bow with the same leg pointed toward the ceiling. All to present to you and Nate two tickets. Tickets to what?

“Another dance rehearsal?”

“Nope actual thing this time.” she supplies passing you each a ticket.

It's such a formal looking ticket for a recital that only goes up to age twelve max. Most dancers will still be in elementary school. But they want you to treat this like the Russian Ballet. Oh it even says it's a black tie event, completely different from the rehearsals you've been too.

You aren't sure if you have anything black tie status. You'll have to make a trip further out of your normal bounds and go thrifting for an outfit. Luckily it won't be happening for another month, that gives you plenty of time to try finding something in your size that you also like. It also gets you out of Kepler and away from your stalker for a few hours. Hopefully. But there's a chance your stalker will follow you on your outings away from Kepler so you'd need to keep an eye out for familiar faces on the trip.

“YN...will you come?” Jo's looking up at you with her big puppy eyes. Unfair, even if you wanted to decline she pulled puppy eyes. What heartless monster would refuse puppy eyes.

You give a slow nod along with a smile that doesn't reach your cheeks let alone your eyes. And while Jo's a little disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm she's still excited for you to come to her recital. Nate nudges her into her personal reading nook making up a lie that you hadn't finished your task sheet today so he'd watch over her while you finished working. You'd only had vacuuming and organizing the shelves that got mussed up the previous day, needless to say you were done nearly as soon as you started. When he came back to you he had a whole stack of papers for books that would need to be input into the system. You got to spend the rest of the day on the dinosaur computer in the backroom.

The quiet was nice.

After you'd gotten off work you still weren't out of your funk. Frustrated with the idea of going home and not actually being alone with a stalker prowling around. You decided to go to the one place that can calm even your worst of moods. The stream.

There's a reason why you've never been able to do longer than a thirty minute hike through the Monongahela and that's the stream. Every time you've said you'd go further into the forest you're always drawn back into that spot along the bank right under the red spruce. It has the best smell of all the trees, you think.

Just thinking about it has you having a better outlook on the day. You hardly spare the RV a glance as you go along your usual route.

You've said it once you'll say it again for emphasis. You could walk the same path every time you came through and always find something different. Like that cool rock right there. Picking it up to inspect it closer you note the color is a deep dark brown that it almost looks black even obsidian, it reminds you of something but you can't quite place it. It's very smooth and oddly enough fits perfectly in your hand given it's larger size.

You think you'll keep it, this is a good rock. Idly rubbing the smooth surface of the stone as you trek through your trail, you can feel the tension start to ease off of you. You found a very nice worry stone, it works amazingly well. Hopefully no one lost it and it is just a naturally occurring stone that you happened on by chance. As much as you like it you'd hate to think of the chance of someone loosing something they need.

All thoughts cease once you hear the babble of the stream. As if on auto pilot you move with a fluidity through the brush and low hanging tree branches to your spot. Right under the spruce. Just as you did the last week and every other trip before you remove your shoes and socks placing them further behind you, so you can dip your feet into the cool stream. It's very refreshing on this hot summer's day.

Lying down with your feet still in the stream you close your eyes and just loose yourself to nature. All your cares and worries getting washed away by the steady moving stream. It's strange to be here without the buzzing in the back of your head. Oh great speak of the devil and he shall appear. It's fine, after all you're used to this, it's easy to ignore.

However, what isn't easy to ignore is the snapping of a branch, from in front of you just across the stream, how cliche. Cliches aside the sound rockets you back into a sitting position as you look for the source. And you find it...find him standing just on the other side of the stream emerging from the brush on that side. Toby. And he's mask less, not a weird choice considering he probably wouldn't have run into anyone had you not decided to come out for a hike.

Great you can feel your chances at friendship slipping through your grasp just like the water slips down the bend. He's gonna think you're weird when you don't respond to him verbally. Or worse he'll think you were rude for not wanting to talk to him and then never want to talk to you again in retaliation. Whatever relaxation had once been over you quickly dissipates and you are left anxious and with a tickle at the base of your skull.

Toby hasn't said anything yet. Not even a raised hand in a half wave. You also don't see Connor anywhere. Is Toby okay right now? Fuck even with that kind of thought you can't manage to move your lips let alone actually utter a sound, even ones that wouldn't ever be counted as words by anyone who was currently living. So you take the first move, literally.

Raising the hand without the stone in a mock form of a greeting. Toby doesn't seem to quite register it or you but he copies the movement. Oh he must be dissociating either that or in a catatonic state similar to the one you'd been in last weekend. That's probably how he knew he just needed to sit you down and keep and eye on you. You could do that for him...if that's what he needed.

You wave your hand beckoning Toby to come over to your side of the stream. Toby tilts his head to the side before his arms jolt up, going across his body. You assume it was a tic because he didn't keep the pose long. Tilting your head back at him, as if to say 'You coming over?', you pat the spot next to you.

Seems he registered that because he backed up a few steps before taking a running leap to cross the stream. He lands with more grace than you'd given the lanky guy credit for, normally someone with such long limbs would be a lot more clumsy. Not to mention that was a pretty wide jump, and Toby only has a few inches on you, you could probably barely cover the width of the stream. But he not only cleared it but he gave himself a good six inches of coverage away from the edge. You just hope he didn't roll or over exert anything by doing that. With his insensitivity to pain he wouldn't feel it and if he wasn't here mentally right now it's likely he wouldn't even remember he made a jump like that in the first place.

When he just stands in place staring at you, you get a bit uneasy. What's up with everyone staring at you today? You get really uncomfortable with people's stares normally, and now you're overstimulated and stressed it's not a great combination. But you can rationalize Toby is having a moment of his own. And since he helped you the best that he could you'll do the same for him, pushing aside your own issues for the moment. After all what are friends for.

He's standing within arms reach. You don't even have to get up as you gently grab his hand and give a few light tugs. Trying your best to get across that he should sit down with you. This would probably be a lot easier if you could speak right now. Did he speak to you when you were like this?

Toby thankfully gets the message and drops into a criss-cross position next to you. You start to retract your hand, now that the need for contact is over, when Toby's rough hand closes around it suddenly. Looking to Toby he's just staring straight ahead and not at you. His eyes aren't frantic or moving in any way, like yours sometimes do when you're following a hallucination. Physical closeness must help him through this kind of thing.

As gross as the feeling normally would be for you it isn't so bad right now. It seems Toby's CIPA also affects his body's temperature and his ability to sweat. Where there's usually the feeling of burning and clammy moisture coming off of another person, Toby is just tepid and dry. If anything it feels as if you're being held by a leather baseball glove.

Toby's hands are very rough, especially his palms, maybe you should let him burrow some of the goat milk lotion Dia gave you a few weeks ago. It smells pretty good and it only takes a little bit to soften your skin back up. But as you look closer at his hands you can see the spots roughest are around his nail beds. Someone has a biting problem, maybe he needs an oral stim toy. That would keep his flesh out of his mouth, and stop him from injuring himself...hopefully. There's still a chance he'd bite through his tongue without realizing, honestly you're a little surprised that hasn't happened yet.

You had completely forgotten about the stone in your hand until you went to grab at Toby's hand that still held yours in a firm grip. Seeing the dark brown rock again you remembered what it reminded you of, Toby's eyes. They were the same shade as the rock, that's funny...anecdotally at least. This rock helped you maybe it would help calm him down some. Worth a shot.

Since your hand closest to him is preoccupied you have to reach across his body to nudge the rock to his hand. He spares it a single glance before covering it with his other hand. Mission partially accomplished you guess. Now you're just sitting here, with Toby catatonic, by the edge of the water bank. Pulling your feet from the stream you mirror Toby's pose, you'll likely be here a while.

While normally you'd love to just loose your self to the sounds surrounding the stream, in the presence of another person you're too jittery to enjoy that. If only you had something to fidget with... You wonder what Toby's reaction would be if you just... Toby turns his head to watch you when he feels a gentle smaller hand on his own. Dark eyes watching intensely as you pull his hand into your lap. Turning it over so his palm is facing up, before you start tracing patterns into his palm lines and flexing his fingers individually. He watches for a moment before turning back to his original point.

Playing with his hand you noticed a few more things about Toby. From his chipped black nail polish, a look you personally think not enough guys go for even though it makes them look more attractive and approachable. To the single string paracord medical bracelet he's wearing, metal tag simply stating 'TOURETTE'S SYNDROME'. And a little further down you see scars, a few are crescent shapes easily identified as Toby's own nails. But most are straight lines, even a few jagged cuts, that run up and along his forearm.

'Tobais...what on Earth happened to you?' just as the thought rings through your mind you feel a sudden weight on your shoulder.

Toby is resting on your shoulder with his eyes close. You can tell he's just resting them by the lack of movement behind the eyelids.  With his head being on your shoulder you can smell him, not in a creepy way but he's just so close that his scent waifs your way. He smells like fresh dirt...it isn't a bad smell. It reminds you of gardening but on an overcast day. It hadn't rained today so how does he smell like it?

Moving your attention back to his hands, and away from how nice Toby smells, you catch sight of the scars again and bite your lip. Not wanting to dwell on the scars and their implications any longer. You curl and uncurl his fingers and start a rhythmic motion of curling them individually.

'You poor sweet boy.' is the only thought you can focus on. Even though the scars may be old and those wounds long healed. Toby at one point made them and it's very apparent that he is still not in the best way mentally. Once the two of you are friends, you'll do your best to be there for him. Like you are right now...you really hope it helps.

Toby didn't make even the slightest movement until the sky had begun to bleed its deep oranges across the horizon. He pulls his hand out of your grasp. And when you try to retrieve it to keep up you activity he softly pushes your hands back to you. Guess he's done for now.

With as late as it is, you'd like to go home. And Toby seems more aware of the things going on. But it isn't until you hear a call for him behind you two and he reacts looking in the direction of the call, that you decide he's safe enough for you to leave here.

Without much hesitancy you push off of the ground and stand. Toby isn't looking at you. Taking that as a cue you head back towards the entrance of the forest. Before you leave the clearing however, you look back to Toby and notice a dark colored stone resting nicely in his palm as he idly brushes a finger across it's surface.

Yea he's going to be fine.

#ticci tobyx reader #ticcitoby #ticci toby #timothy wright #timothy wright x brian thomas #timothy wright x reader #masky x reader #masky #hoodie #brian thomas #brian thomas x reader #creepypasta fanfic #self harm mentioned

[mimzy-writing-online]

Some Blind Things I (and actual blind person) Have Done

I talk all the time about what’s realistic for a blind person to do and how to write a blind character who isn’t a complete media myth of touching faces and super powers... soooo, part of that is knowing what kind of things an actual blind person (me) fucks up doing because I’m blind.

These moments include: Me sarcastically telling people I cannot see the thing they’re doing. Moments where I have zero manners. Moments where I do have manners. Making people uncomfortable because they’re staring at me. Great phrases like, “I have too much ADHD to count to eight.” and “It’s literally illegal for me to drive.” and “Wait, who are you?” “That’s not how we talk to people Mimzy.” My cats’ growing concern that I can’t see them or tell them apart but continuing to love me. Channeling my inner Toph Bei-Fong. Updates on the ongoing insomnia writing.

There’s no chronological order to them, I’m not sure there’s going to be any order to them at all, but it’s 3 am and I can’t sleep and it’s called the Late Night Writing Advice Blog for a reason.

(I definitely did not have to double check my own blog title while typing that, definitely not)

Note: This list gets a little long, but it’s a funny read and I was up until 4:30 (this note is from a future Mimzy who’s almost finished posting this, after 1.5 hours)

Additional Note: Feel free to send anons with commentary or reblog with commentary because I would love if someone enjoyed this. Like, these are stories of my life, please appreciate them.

The Things!

-My best friend and I hang out mostly at night because of his 9-5 job, and he still lives with his parents who probably don’t like me so when we hang out we’re mostly driving around on random adventures and coffee/tea runs and late night dinners. 

So it’s night, and my night vision is awful and I have to wear sunglasses anyway because what I can see is painfully bright headlights so yeah I see basically nothing.

With my best friend, I have

1. after asking him a question: “Did you nod at me and I just didn’t see it.” “I did nod.” or after waiting long enough for a response he’ll realize what he did on his own and say, “I was shaking my head no, sorry.”

2. Reaching into total darkness to touch his shoulder and touched his armpit instead.

3. Dropped something from my bag onto his messy car floor and asked him to find it for me because it all looks blurry and grey-black down there, even without sunglasses

4. Sensed he was going for a high five and I gave him a perfect high five. Surprised, he wanted to test it again. I completely missed.

5. “We’re passing the oil refinery, so enjoy hearing, touching, smelling, tasting that.” plus 3 other identical jokes on the same drive. “Hey, can you stop making blind jokes, I’m starting to hate them these days.” “When did that happen?” “When one not-great classmate slash sort of friend made them all the time.” “That’s a shame.” “Blind jokes from sighted people are also super repetitive. The only blind jokes I seem to like are from other blind people.”

6. Him: “You’re rolling your eyes behind your sunglasses, I can tell!” 

7. Once we saw snow once our way driving home from Las Vegas. It was March, it was after midnight, and the warmest it had been at any point in that night was 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 degrees Celsius. That’s a real comparison?? That’s a scary number to an American who’s barely ever left California. We were driving through the mountainy area of California where the temp really drops and for three seconds we saw snow in the wind. Well, he saw it. Something moved, it was small and flaky but like... that was actually snow and I couldn’t see it? (this was three, almost four years ago)

8. Last weekend we drove around the rich neighborhoods to look at Christmas decorations because I love Christmas lights because for ones light actually looks pretty instead of painful and I can see it at night without hurting, so it’s nice. I love the pretty visual things. Blindness will not take the pretty visual things from me! And the decorations just make me so happy and I wanted to do that last year but never did, so we did that this year

9. I also told him about the cripple punk tag on Tumblr last weekend and he was delighted to know it exists because he’s got other chronic health issues including downright awful knees.

Other blind things not directly involving my best friend

1. I have paused writing to ask a sighted person if it’s realistic for my sighted characters to see X item from Y distance away. Usually my dad with his stupidly perfect vision.

2. Realizing I’m forgetting what sighted people can see. It’s been four years since I saw like a normal person. And all my sighted memories are literally blurry from age.

3. But I still have dreams where I see normally. And then dreams where everything is too bright like in real life and I cannot see and what is happening???

At home, specifically

1. I have three cats who I can’t tell the difference between. I have a small black and brown tabby cat. A black and orange tortie cat who is slightly heavy but medium build. An all black cat who is huge and has the longest fur I’ve ever touched on a cat. I cannot tell the difference between them until I’m up close. Especially if the lighting bad.

2. Tonight I almost set my laptop on top of Remy, my brown and black tabby, because I didn’t see here a foot away from me, curled up next to my leg, somehow blending in with my orange and blue comforter. Her concerned look I did see and was horrified by my almost fuck up and apologized profusely for.

3. Cannot see Felix, my black cat, half the time if the lighting is bad and have almost sat on him, put my feet in his face, tripped over him, etc. because he blends into the shadows and oh my fucking god I cannot see that.

Note: Remy cuddles with me all the time. Felix adores me but will not be caught dead cuddling anyone because dignity, but if he’s in my room and nobody’s around to see he’s insistent on cuddling. Rio (black and orange tortie) is devoted to my mum, and she knows she makes me nervous when she suddenly jumps on me and I get really shifty and squirmy and not fun to cuddle with, so we’re cool and I give her pets but she doesn’t usually crawl onto me unless she wants to make my mum jealous.

4. Can sneak up on family members and friends because I move so quietly, so at least there’s that. Not a blind thing, but it makes up for some things.

5. Have walked up to someone I thought was a friend, realized I don’t know them, and the first thing out my mouth was “Wait, who are you?” and then a close friend (and the party host) grab me by the shoulders and say, “That’s not how we talk to people,” and just like, where are your manners Mimzy, wtf, but I never saw that stranger again so it’s okay.

Side Note: blindness aside, I do have a habit of just rudely speaking my mind in not-appropriate settings because I just don’t care and don’t have the anxiety to at least act like I care. They’re very satisfying, but usually very rare moments.

6. Please stop moving things around the house!

7. “What do you mean there are cobwebs?” *Shines a flashlight at the dark corners of my room* “oh my god...”

8. Me, to my family members, “Please close those curtains, light hurts. Please turn off that lamp, it’s too bright in here.” *me, later turns off most of the lights in the house* Family members: “Why is it so dark in here? I can’t see.” *Me, channeling my inner Toph Bei-Fong* “Oh no, what a tragedy!”

9. Mum is the only one who vaguely appreciates my light sensitivity because she also has snow vision (a mild case) and has a little light sensitivity, sometimes, on her bad days.

More Not Quite Appropriate Things!

There are so many things that I say only to realize that there is a very nearby stranger who heard that out of context and it sounded so bad.

1. Best Friend (while I’m walking down stairs just fine, by myself, don’t need anyone’s help, I can do it!) “There are eight steps.” “I don’t need your help.” “I know but--” “I’m fine!” “I’m just trying to help.” “I have too much ADHD to count to eight anyway!”

“I have too much ADHD to count to eight anyway,” is exactly what two strangers heard while walking right behind me.

Why would you sneak up on someone who’s so obviously blind??

2. “Sea foam green is an ugly color anyway.” I was in a mall, it was well lit and I was using my cane and managing with my crap vision, but I managed to see that specific color I hate on a dress right next to me, and the woman walking on the other side of the mannequin display heard that and did a double take on my obviously blind self.

Or so I’m told by my mom who could see what happened.

3. Similar to above, I was in the Artist Village in San Diego, which is a huge tourist trap, and I was sort of a tourist too, but it’s freaking outdoors, so I have the cane and sunglasses. And I’m in an Artist Village (very visual thing) with my parents, so out of place. And this random dude was apparently staring at me. Cannot see him, absolutely no idea which direction my mum is pointing towards, everything is blank and weird and not see-able, but I turned my head and by some miracle looked directly at him and he freaked out and looked away.

4. “Oh yeah, make fun of the blind person!” sarcastically, but loudly, somewhere public after a joke a friend had made that I was actually okay with.

5. “Driving and hiking are my two biggest weaknesses,” said out of context to people who didn’t know I was blind.

6. “I forgot you were blind.” “Well I didn’t.” More channeling of Toph, I think.

7. “Why can’t you drive?” *points to cane* *he does not get it* “It’s very illegal for me to drive.” *does not get it* “They’re blind dude,” classmate says. “Very blind.” “You seem to get around just fine,” says the man who only see me indoors with the very best lighting scenario for my vision. “Yeah, but that’s because I have the cane.” “So?” You seem just fine, he seems to think. How dumb are you? I definitely think. “Why do you need the cane?” “Because I would die if I didn’t have it. I have almost died. People would die if I tried to drive.”

8. Later: “Did he think you could just drive and use your cane to feel the road or something?” “I guess.”

9. More questions from other people who don’t know me very well asking why I can’t drive. “Because it’s illegal.” Their confusion is wondering specifically why it’s illegal rather than thinking I’m not actually blind. I explain the laws in the driving handbook, because I have read it (unlike some people I guess. How did you miss the ‘drivers must be able to see at least 20/40 with their best corrected eye” and I haven’t been in that category for two years.

Note: My day blindness came two years before my vision acuity reached visually impaired status. So, like, two years of wishing I had a cane but thinking “I’m not blind enough” and still being terrified in certain situations and risking my life walking around without one or some sighted guide.

Similar Public Things

1. I can see indoors pretty well so I get by on prescription glasses and no cane (I see 20/70 - 20/100 with glasses) but sometimes the mall is crowded and nobody gives me space and I’m just not comfortable getting so close to people, so I bust out my cane (and maybe my sunglasses too) so I look extra blind and people will give me the space to walk without running into someone.

2. Have also done that just because the indoor lights were also too bright and I need my sunglasses.

3. Have stared at my phone in public with cane/sunglasses, or tried taking photos with it, and I get so many weird looks because blind people see nothing I guess, none of us have any vision at all! (read sarcasm)

4. Walking into a coffee shop I’ve been to before and I know they change their teas all the freaking time. Also got the cane. “Hi, can you tell me what iced teas you have right now?” “Oh, they’re all on that sign.” *blank look* Do you not realize I’m blind? I’m thinking. “What kind of black tea do you have? Do you have any tropical black tea?” (because they usually do and I love tropical black tea, and they did that day too, so I ordered that.)

5. I cannot read menus. Those restaurants that have the menus above the register are awful, evil. Cannot read. In the wonderful days of my childhood I didn’t have prescription glasses for my moderately not great but still mostly functional vision (my dad has perfect vision and no concept whatsoever about what it’s like to not be able to see those things!) So imagine my parents dragging me to restaurants like that and I’m 10 years old and supposedly can read perfectly fine but I cannot read that menu and I think it’s some personal character fault of mine that I just don’t know how to read those kinds of menus, so I have to ask my mum to help me choose a food to order and eat, and then that’s the only thing I ever order any time I ever go back. So, I’m quickly getting sick of those places because I only eat one item there and I want to try something new with a restaurant with those nice hand held menus, but those are sit-down restaurants and apparently they cost more money, sooo...

6. That was a rant I went on with my best friend last weekend

Side note: It’s almost 4 am, my mum just woke up, saw the light on in my room from under the crack of my door and said hi. I’m at a point right now where she just expects it and isn’t one to judge (unlike my dad who has zero insomnia because he has hypersomnia and I don’t know how humans do that)

Side Note Ten Minutes Later: My laptop is at 10% but I plugged it in because dammit I am finishing this tonight and it will have all the things.

7. “Hey, where’s the trash can? I can’t find one.” *also mistakes a trashcan and a human being just sitting still. All the time* “Why not just litter then?” best friend asks, knowing exactly how I’ll respond. “I have manners!”

8. I hate traveling even a little by myself. My orientation and mobility skills with my cane aren’t that bad, but they’re not good enough for me to feel comfortable walking around by myself anywhere that isn’t super familiar with routes I already have practiced and memorized (school, close friend’s houses or apartments, the blocks in my neighborhood I’ve walked 500 times coming too and from school or walking dogs with my parents). Anywhere unfamiliar or wide/open or crowded or God Forbid, OUTSIDE is a source of terror and will not let my traveling companions leave me alone for longer than a few minutes and certainly not walk away on my own.

9. Will not go to bars because I present female and I am visibly disabled and that makes me look like an easy target and why would I risk that unnecessarily?

I’m gonna cut it off here. This is a long post, and I need to just finally go to bed. Goodnight. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to send anons with commentary or reblog with commentary. I’d like to know that someone liked this.

#actually blind #cripple punk #writeblr #blindness #writing community #writeblr and actually blind both feel applicable because this is both a blog about writing and a blog about blindness #and other disability #tw ablism #blind character #why not add that tag too? #it's almost 5 GOODNIGHT

[my-happy-little-bean]

The Road Trip - Prologue

pairings: logicality (platonic or romantic, depending on how you view it) words: 1740  chapter warnings: talks about life/death, implied main character death (upcoming, never occurring directly in the story), chapter summary: feat. one more chat about sunsets.

a/n - this is the last chapter of my big bang fic! do not let the title fool you, heh. thank you so much for reading <3

< previous chapter << first chapter

[read on ao3]

[masterlist]

*credit to art in this chapter goes to @lemonyellowlogic​​ ✨*

**note: the link to the song in the end is written & sung poorly by yours truly :)**

---

Despite protests that he “didn’t drive enough”, Logan reassured Patton that yes, he’d be fine to drive the rest of the way home. 

“It is my car, after all,” he had told him. 

“Yeah, but you have to sleeeeeep .”

“Neither of us have gotten much sleep,” he replied, “but only one of us would be able to function despite that fact.”

And Logan was right, of course. Soon enough, the pencil fell out of Patton’s hand and onto the car floor as he dozed off. 

The rest of the drive was rather quiet, the events of the previous night still settling in. Despite his best efforts, Logan couldn’t figure out a way to get Patton’s words out of his head. 

“Took her humanity back with her.”

For someone whose appeals involved unicorn frappuccinos and endless amounts of cotton candy, Patton was so painfully wise. 

Logan found himself humming quietly to himself as the sun chased after them. Given their early start, he predicted that they would arrive back at Patton’s place by the early evening.

He took the time to think over everything, all in a figurative new light. He thought about how he met Patton; how he was compelled to get to know him from the moment he laid eyes on him. He thought about his mother and the Clinic (not many thoughts occurred without considering them), and he thought about where he was today.

Then, he looked over at Patton; who was still sleeping, his notebook hardly staying put on his lap.

In four days, Patton was going to die. 

And Logan?

...He didn’t know where he’d be.

(Something in his chest ached with such longing at the thought.)

Every now and then, Patton would stir and write a few more things in his notebook; always sneaking glances between Logan and the view outside his window. It took a few repeats of that before Patton was much more alert and engaged into more of a conversation. 

“The sky’s so gorgeous today,” Patton murmured, sticking his head out of his open window like a small puppy. Logan smiled.

“It truly is.”

“Like it doesn’t just look... blue ,” Patton continued excitedly. “There’s white, fluffy clouds! There’s hints of purple right underneath the surface and– and there’s dark blue!”

“It is quite commendable that you are able to identify different colours in what others would perceive to be a fairly monochrome sky.”

Patton stuck his head back into the car and grinned at him. “Just practicing!”

At some point, they stop for lunch at the same 50’s diner they went to at the beginning of their trip. Patton even ordered the same dish, which sparked a lighthearted conversation of its own. 

In between the gaps of silence they inevitably ran into during their meal, Logan would quietly observe Patton write some more in his notebook. He smiled to himself as Patton scarfed up his food just to write with little to no interruption, humming what sounded like chords, as if trying to tune himself. 

When Logan commented on Patton’s newfound urgency to write, Patton simply said, “I can’t help it! I’m inspired – and inspiration waits for no one!”

Of course, Patton happily put down his pencil when Logan offered his hand out to him for one more dance.

During the final hour of their trip, Patton finally closed his notebook and turned his head to face Logan. 

“Can I ask you a kinda...dark question? You’re free to say no.” 

Logan nodded. “Go ahead.”

“...How do you think you’re going to die?”

A beat of silence. He wasn’t shocked, just stunned. Usually, Patton would dance around the subject so delicately. He wasn’t quite sure what changed. 

“I...I’m not sure,” he finally answered. “As you said before, there’s really only one way out for me, is there not?”

“Ah. Right.” Patton’s voice was suddenly meek and quiet. Perhaps not much has changed, Logan noticed. 

“Okay okay, new question.”

“Mhm.”

“Say the Clinic didn’t exist–”

Logan scoffed. 

“No no, please hear me out,” Patton insisted. Logan just nodded with a small smile. “Say this– this entire system didn’t exist, and we just...didn’t know what was going to happen to us. We would live a long, full life to do whatever and die...well, whenever. How do you think you would live?”

A pause. 

“I’d be a teacher,” Logan said with a small, thoughtful smile. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher anyway; my interest in the occupation was not completely fabricated.”

Patton grinned at him. “That’s really cute.”

“Perhaps I would also get a cat,” he continued. “I never had the time to care for one, so perhaps this life would allow for some...accomodation.”

“Awww, that sounds purr fect!” 

Logan chuckled. 

“I suppose, hence, if I were to live such a peaceful life,” Logan concluded, “I feel as though I would want to die in the same way. No disease, no pain. Ideally, it would happen in my sleep. That way, I would never know. I would just be at peace.”

“Oh, Logan .” His name sounded so soft coming from him. It made Logan smile. “It’s what you deserve.”

“How about you, Patton?” he hummed. “How would you live?”

Patton scrunched his face up in thought. 

“I...I always thought that if someone would ask me this, I would just want to live in any way that wasn’t my life; all the good parts, none of the bad.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he murmured. “But…but now, I don’t think I would change a thing.”

His hand found Logan’s on the gear shift. 

“I would want to be happy and satisfied, surrounded by the people I love,” he said, “and then, I’d close my eyes.”

Logan looked at Patton–  really looked at him. 

And hidden behind Patton’s irses were fireworks;  quietly going off in small sparks. 

 “...It sounds like a beautiful way to go.”

Patton smiled. “I look forward to it.”

---

“Is there something wrong with your ukulele?”

“Oh! No no, I’m just tuning it. I...I have to record something quickly.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Is that okay? I can just wait ‘till I get home, maybe sing you something else if you want.”

“...Surprise me.”

- 

When Patton ended the recording of his last song, 

Logan took a slow, deep breath– one he felt like he was holding all his life–

and broke down into sobs.

(He was ready.)

--- 

Logan held Patton’s bag in one hand, and held Patton in the other. 

“Well,” Patton giggled, “this is me.”

“I mean, it is a house; it is not you.” 

Patton just giggled even more as Logan handed his bags to him. 

“Are you sure you do not want me to drop you off at your mother’s?”

“It’s okay!” Patton chirped. “I’m just here to pack up some of my stuff before anyone comes to collect ‘em. Plus, I think I’m going to stay at my mum’s for the next few days. She probably needs help with the twins more than ever, heh.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Besides,” Patton continued, “my place is on the way to the Clinic. It’ll be easier for you to get there; I know you said there was some stuff you had to take back with you.” 

“Mhm.” Logan averted his glance down at the ground. Hesitance began to creep back in, but he did his best to let the feeling settle.

“You’ll be okay going back?” Patton asked quietly. 

A beat of silence. 

“I don’t know,” he replied, finally more human than not. “But that’s okay.” 

Patton smiled. Logan suddenly caught a glimpse of something behind Patton’s shoulder and his eyes widened.

He then closed his trunk and motioned Patton to follow him, going over to the front of the car and leaning against the hood. Patton trailed behind him, still holding his hand. He set his bags down at his feet as he leaned back against the car as well. 

“ Wow, ” Patton breathed out.

Logan nodded as they both looked up at the sky. “I dare say it is prettier than the one we encountered when we began.”

“Yeah,” Patton murmured with a small smile. “It’s beautiful. ”

They sat in silence, tilting their heads up towards the mix of colours above them. Logan did his best to look–  really look – at the sight. 

He noticed how the clouds were illuminated with pink, orange, and yellow highlights; and surrounding them was a swirl of purple and blue. It almost looked like the sun was setting the sky on fire.

A cool breeze rushed past him, but he felt the warmth of it all from where he was standing. 

It was like he could see everything.

And when he looked over at Patton,  he saw that his eyes were closed. 

“Thank you for the adventure, Logan,” Patton whispered, gently squeezing Logan’s hand. “Thank you for giving me time. ”

Logan’s breath hitched, but his surprise soon gave way to a smile. His thumb brushed against Patton’s hand. 

“Thank you for understanding me more than I ever could have,” he murmured. “And thank you for being my friend.”

“...Your best friend.” 

“Do not make me regret assigning you this role.” 

Patton laughed, letting go of his hand and turning to face him. 

And then, Patton gave him a hug. 

“I’ll see you soon, I’m sure of it,” Logan heard him say in his shoulder. “ I wish you the best with the time you have left.”

-

Before Logan started driving, he received a text from Patton. 

Patton | Today | 8:13 pm

<3 

Found attachment(s) : new recording.mp3

A smile grew on his face as Patton’s voice soon surrounded him. It was as if he never left. 

Logan took a deep breath. Thoughts of the Clinic swarmed his head, and the memory of  watching his mother drive away from him towards another life clouded his vision.

He lifted his head up and slowly started the car, his stare fixed ahead of him.

And then, he drove away from Patton –  away from it all–

going towards the sunset instead. 

--- 

alone with you, watchin' the sun fall down. i’ll cry with you, come home with me safe and sound. and whether or not i deserve it i guess i’ll never know. but maybe we’ll see some new colours on the other side of the road.

~ sunset (the other side of the road) - demo | uploaded by pattonmsings ~

#TS Storytime 2020 Submission #gabbie writes things #the road trip #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfic #sanders sides fanfiction #logan sanders #patton sanders #logan/patton #logicality #human AU

[blackkudos]

Rodney King

Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965 – June 17, 2012) was an American construction worker turned writer and activist after surviving an act of police brutality by the Los Angeles Police Department. On March 3, 1991, King was violently beaten by LAPD officers during his arrest for fleeing and resisting arrest on California State Route 210. A civilian, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage clearly showed King being beaten repeatedly, and the incident was covered by news media around the world.

The four officers were tried on charges of use of police brutality; three were acquitted, and the jury failed to reach a verdict on one charge for the fourth. Within hours of the acquittals, the 1992 Los Angeles riots started, sparked by outrage among African Americans over the trial's verdict and related, longstanding social issues. The rioting lasted six days and killed 63 people with 2,383 more injured; it ended only after the California Army National Guard, the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps provided reinforcements to re-establish control.

The federal government prosecuted a separate civil rights case, obtaining grand jury indictments of the four officers for violations of King's civil rights. Their trial in a federal district court ended on April 16, 1993, with two of the officers being found guilty and sentenced to serve prison terms. The other two were acquitted of the charges. In a separate suit, the city of Los Angeles awarded King $3.8 million in damages. He attempted to start a business, but was not successful.

In 2012, he was found dead in his swimming pool two months after publishing his memoir; the coroner found evidence of alcohol and drugs in his system and ruled these and his history of heart problems had likely resulted in an accidental drowning.

Early life

King was born in Sacramento, California in 1965, the son of Ronald and Odessa King. He and his four siblings grew up in Altadena, California. King attended John Muir High School and often talked about being inspired by his social science teacher, Robert E. Jones. King's father died in 1984 at the age of 42; he had been a violent alcoholic.

On November 3, 1989, King robbed a store in Monterey Park, California. He threatened the Korean store owner with an iron bar, and hit him with a wooden pole. King stole two hundred dollars in cash during the robbery. He was caught, convicted, and sentenced to two years imprisonment. He was released on December 27, 1990, after serving one year in prison.

Marriage and family

While still a teenager, King had a daughter with his girlfriend Carmen Simpson. He later married Danetta Lyles (cousin to rapper Mack 10) and had a daughter. King and Lyles were eventually divorced. He later married and had a daughter with Crystal Waters. This marriage also ended in divorce.

1991 police assault in Los Angeles

Early in the morning of March 3, 1991, King, with his friends Bryant Allen and Freddie Helms, were driving a 1987 Hyundai Excel west on the Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The three had spent the night watching basketball and drinking at a friend's house in Los Angeles. At 12:30 a.m., officers Tim and Melanie Singer, husband and wife members of the California Highway Patrol, noticed King's car speeding on the freeway. They pursued King with lights and sirens, and the pursuit reached 117 mph (188 km/h), while King refused to pull over. King later said he tried to outrun the police because a charge of driving under the influence would violate his parole for his previous robbery conviction.

King left the freeway near the Hansen Dam Recreation Area and the pursuit continued through residential streets at speeds ranging from 55 to 80 miles per hour (90 to 130 km/h), and through at least one red light. By this point, several police cars and a police helicopter had joined in the pursuit. After approximately 8 miles (13 km), officers cornered King in his car. The first five Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers to arrive were Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano.

Beating

Officer Tim Singer ordered King and his two passengers to exit the vehicle and to lie face down on the ground. Allen claims he was manhandled, kicked, stomped, taunted, and threatened. Helms was hit in the head while lying on the ground; he was treated for a laceration on the top of his head. His bloody baseball cap was turned over to police. King remained in the car. When he emerged, he was reported to have been gagged, to have patted the ground, and waved to the police helicopter overhead. King grabbed his buttocks, which Officer Melanie Singer took to mean King was reaching for a weapon, though he was later found to be unarmed. She drew her pistol and pointed it at King, ordering him to lie on the ground. Singer approached, gun drawn, preparing to arrest him. At this point, Koon, the ranking officer at the scene, told Singer that the LAPD was taking command and ordered all officers to holster their weapons.

LAPD officers are taught to approach a suspect without their gun drawn, as there is a risk that any suspect may gain control of it if an officer gets too close. Koon ordered the four other LAPD officers at the scene—Briseno, Powell, Solano, and Wind—to subdue and handcuff King using a technique called a "swarm." This involves multiple officers grabbing a suspect with empty hands, in order to quickly overcome potential resistance. As four officers attempted to restrain him, King resisted by standing to remove Officers Powell and Briseno from his back. The officers later testified that they believed King was under the influence of phencyclidine (PCP), although King's toxicology tested negative for the drug.

Holliday video

King was twice tasered by Koon. This marks the approximate start of the period that George Holliday videotaped. In the tape, King is seen on the ground. He rises and rushes toward Powell—as argued in court, either to attack Powell or to flee—and King and Powell collided in the rush. Taser wire can be seen on King's body. Officer Powell strikes King with his baton, and King is knocked to the ground. Powell strikes King several more times with his baton. Briseno moves in, attempting to stop Powell from striking again, and Powell stands back. Koon reportedly said, "That's enough." King rises again, to his knees; Powell and Wind are seen hitting King with their batons.

Koon acknowledged ordering the continued use of batons, directing Powell and Wind to strike King with "power strokes." According to Koon, Powell and Wind used "bursts of power strokes, then backed off." The officers beat King. In the videotape, King continues to try to stand again. Koon orders the officers to "hit his joints, hit the wrists, hit his elbows, hit his knees, hit his ankles." Officers Wind, Briseno, and Powell attempted numerous baton strikes on King, resulting in some misses but with 33 blows hitting King, plus seven kicks. The officers again "swarm" King, but this time a total of eight officers are involved in the swarm. King is placed in handcuffs and cordcuffs, restraining his arms and legs. King is dragged on his abdomen to the side of the road to await the arrival of emergency medical rescue.

Holliday shot a videotape of the incident on his camcorder from his apartment near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Osborne Street in Lake View Terrace. Two days later, Holliday called LAPD headquarters at Parker Center to let the police department know that he had a videotape of the incident, but he could not find anyone who was interested in seeing the video. He went to KTLA television with his videotape. The station cut ten seconds of the video, before the image was in focus, that showed an extremely blurry shot of King rising to his feet and taking one step before being struck by one of the officers. Later, members of the jury said this cut footage was essential to their decision to acquit the officers, who had claimed this step represented the first of a charge at them. The footage as a whole became an instant media sensation. Portions were aired numerous times, and it "turned what would otherwise have been a violent, but soon forgotten, encounter between the Los Angeles police and an uncooperative suspect into one of the most widely watched and discussed incidents of its kind."

Several "copwatch" organizations subsequently were started throughout the United States to safeguard against police abuse, including an umbrella group, October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality.

Post-arrest events

Aftermath

King was taken to Pacifica Hospital after his arrest, where he was found to have suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken right ankle, and multiple bruises and lacerations. In a negligence claim filed with the city, King alleged he had suffered "11 skull fractures, permanent brain damage, broken [bones and teeth], kidney failure [and] emotional and physical trauma". Blood and urine samples taken from King five hours after his arrest showed that he would have been intoxicated under California law at the time of his arrest. The tests also showed traces of marijuana (26 ng/ml). Pacifica Hospital nurses reported that the officers who accompanied King (including Wind) openly joked and bragged about the number of times they had hit King. Officers obtained King's identification from his clothes pockets at that time. King later sued the city for damages and a jury awarded him $3.8 million, as well as $1.7 million in attorney's fees. The city did not pursue charges against King for driving while intoxicated and evading arrest. District Attorney Ira Reiner believed there was insufficient evidence for prosecution. His successor Gil Garcetti thought that by December 1992, too much time had passed to charge King with evading arrest; he also noted that the statute of limitations on drunk driving had passed.

Charges against police officers and trial

The Los Angeles County District Attorney subsequently charged four police officers, including one sergeant, with assault and use of excessive force. Due to the extensive media coverage of the arrest, the trial received a change of venue from Los Angeles County to Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County. The jury was composed of nine whites, one bi-racial male, one Latino, and one Asian American. The prosecutor, Terry White, was black.

On April 29, 1992, the seventh day of jury deliberations, the jury acquitted all four officers of assault and acquitted three of the four of using excessive force. The jury could not agree on a verdict for the fourth officer charged with using excessive force. The verdicts were based in part on the first three seconds of a blurry, 13-second segment of the videotape that, according to journalist Lou Cannon, had not been aired by television news stations in their broadcasts.

The first two seconds of videotape, contrary to the claims made by the accused officers, show King attempting to flee past Laurence Powell. During the next one minute and 19 seconds, King is beaten continuously by the officers. The officers testified that they tried to physically restrain King prior to the starting point of the videotape, but King was able to physically throw them off.

Afterward, the prosecution suggested that the jurors may have acquitted the officers because of becoming desensitized to the violence of the beating, as the defense played the videotape repeatedly in slow motion, breaking it down until its emotional impact was lost.

Outside the Simi Valley courthouse where the acquittals were delivered, county sheriff's deputies protected Stacey Koon from angry protesters on the way to his car. Movie director John Singleton, who was in the crowd at the courthouse, predicted, "By having this verdict, what these people done, they lit the fuse to a bomb."

Christopher Commission

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley created the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, also known as the Christopher Commission, in April 1991. Led by attorney Warren Christopher, it was created to conduct "a full and fair examination of the structure and operation of the LAPD," including its recruitment and training practices, internal disciplinary system, and citizen complaint system.

Los Angeles riots and the aftermath

Though few people at first considered race an important factor in the case, including Rodney King's attorney, Steven Lerman, the Holliday videotape was at the time stirring deep resentment among African Americans in Los Angeles, as well as other major cities in the United States, where they had often complained of police abuse against their communities. The officers' jury consisted of Ventura County residents: ten white, one Latino, one Asian. Lead prosecutor Terry White was African American. On April 29, 1992, the jury acquitted three of the officers but could not agree on one of the charges against Powell.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley said, "The jury's verdict will not blind us to what we saw on that videotape. The men who beat Rodney King do not deserve to wear the uniform of the LAPD." President George H. W. Bush said, "Viewed from outside the trial, it was hard to understand how the verdict could possibly square with the video. Those civil rights leaders with whom I met were stunned. And so was I and so was Barbara and so were my kids."

Within hours of the acquittals, the 1992 Los Angeles riots began, lasting six days. African-Americans were outraged by the verdicts and began rioting in the streets along with the Latino communities. By the time law enforcement, the California Army National Guard, the United States Army, and the United States Marine Corps restored order, the riots had resulted in 63 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1 billion in financial losses. Smaller riots occurred in other U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Las Vegas in neighboring Nevada (see West Las Vegas riots), Seattle in Washington state, and as far east as Atlanta in Georgia and New York City. A minor riot erupted on Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as a result of the acquittals.

During the riots, on May 1, 1992, King made a television appearance in which he said,

I just want to say – you know – can we all get along? Can we, can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids? And ... I mean we've got enough smog in Los Angeles let alone to deal with setting these fires and things ... It's just not right. It's not right and it's not going to change anything. We'll get our justice. They've won the battle, but they haven't won the war. We'll get our day in court and that's all we want. And, just, uh, I love – I'm neutral. I love every – I love people of color. I'm not like they're making me out to be. We've got to quit. We've got to quit; I mean after all, I could understand the first – upset for the first two hours after the verdict, but to go on, to keep going on like this and to see the security guard shot on the ground – it's just not right. It's just not right, because those people will never go home to their families again. And uh, I mean please, we can, we can get along here. We all can get along. We just gotta. We gotta. I mean, we're all stuck here for a while. Let's, you know, let's try to work it out. Let's try to beat it, you know. Let's try to work it out.

The widely quoted line has been often paraphrased as, "Can we all just get along?" or "Can't we all just get along?"

Federal trial of officers

After the acquittals and the riots, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) sought indictments of the police officers for violations of King's civil rights. On May 7, federal prosecutors began presenting evidence to the federal grand jury in Los Angeles. On August 4, the grand jury returned indictments against the three officers for "willfully and intentionally using unreasonable force" and against Sergeant Koon for "willfully permitting and failing to take action to stop the unlawful assault" on King. Based on these indictments, a trial of the four officers in the United States District Court for the Central District of California began on February 25, 1993.

The federal trial focused more on the incident. On March 9 of the 1993 trial, King took the witness stand and described to the jury the events as he remembered them. The jury found Officer Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon guilty, and they were subsequently sentenced to 30 months in prison. Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno were acquitted of all charges.

During the three-hour sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John Davies, accepted much of the defense version of the beating. He strongly criticized King, who he said provoked the officers' initial actions. Davies said that only the final six or so baton blows by Powell were unlawful. The first 55 seconds of the videotaped portion of the incident, during which the vast majority of the blows were delivered, was within the law because the officers were attempting to subdue a suspect who was resisting efforts to take him into custody.

Davies found that King's provocative behavior began with his "remarkable consumption of alcoholic beverage" and continued through a high-speed chase, refusal to submit to police orders, and an aggressive charge toward Powell. Davies made several findings in support of the officers' version of events. He concluded that Officer Powell never intentionally struck King in the head, and "Powell's baton blow that broke King's leg was not illegal because King was still resisting and rolling around on the ground, and breaking bones in resistant suspects is permissible under police policy."

Mitigation cited by the judge in determining the length of the prison sentence included the suffering the officers had undergone because of the extensive publicity their case had received, high legal bills that were still unpaid, the impending loss of their careers as police officers, their higher risks of abuse while in prison, and their undergoing two trials. The judge acknowledged that the two trials did not legally constitute double jeopardy, but nonetheless raised "the specter of unfairness".

These mitigations were critical to the validity of the sentences imposed, because federal sentencing guidelines called for much longer prison terms in the range of 70 to 87 months. The low sentences were controversial, and were appealed by the prosecution. In a 1994 ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected all the grounds cited by Judge Davies and extended the terms. The case was appealed by the defense to the U.S. Supreme Court. Both Koon and Powell were released from prison while they appealed the Ninth Circuit's ruling, having served their original 30-month sentences with time off for good behavior. On June 14, 1996, the high court reversed the lower court in a ruling, unanimous in its most important aspects, which gave a strong endorsement to judicial discretion, even under sentencing guidelines intended to produce uniformity.

Later life

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley offered King $200,000 and a four-year college education funded by the city of Los Angeles. King refused and sued the city, winning $3.8 million. Bryant Allen, one of the passengers in King's car on the night of the incident, received $35,000 in his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. The estate of Freddie Helms, the other passenger, settled for $20,000; Helms died in a car accident on June 29, 1991, age 20, in Pasadena. King invested a portion of his settlement in a record label, Straight Alta-Pazz Records, hoping to employ minority employees, but it went out of business. He later wrote a memoir (with help of a ghostwriter) and made a movie about his life.

King was subject to further arrests and convictions for driving violations after the 1991 incident, as he struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. On August 21, 1993, he crashed his car into a block wall in downtown Los Angeles. He was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, fined, and entered a rehabilitation program, after which he was placed on probation. In July 1995, he was arrested by Alhambra police after hitting his wife with his car and knocking her to the ground. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail after being convicted of hit and run.

On August 27, 2003, King was arrested again for speeding and running a red light while under the influence of alcohol. He failed to yield to police officers and slammed his vehicle into a house, breaking his pelvis. On November 29, 2007, while riding home on his bicycle, King was shot in the face, arms, and back with pellets from a shotgun. He reported that the attackers were a man and a woman who demanded his bicycle and shot him when he rode away. Police described the wounds as looking as if they came from birdshot.

In May 2008, King checked into the Pasadena Recovery Center in Pasadena, California, where he filmed as a cast member of season 2 of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which premiered in October 2008. Dr. Drew Pinsky, who runs the facility, showed concern for King's life and said he would die unless his addiction was treated. King also appeared on Sober House, a Celebrity Rehab spin-off focusing on a sober living environment. During his time on Celebrity Rehab and Sober House, King worked on his addiction and what he said was lingering trauma of the beating. He and Pinsky physically retraced King's path from the night of his beating, eventually reaching the spot where it happened, the site of the Children's Museum of Los Angeles.

In 2009, King and other Celebrity Rehab alumni appeared as panel speakers to a new group of addicts at the Pasadena Recovery Center, marking 11 months of sobriety for him. His appearance was aired in the third-season episode "Triggers". King won a celebrity boxing match against Chester, Pennsylvania police officer Simon Aouad on September 11, 2009, at the Ramada Philadelphia Airport in Essington.

On September 9, 2010, it was confirmed that King was going to marry Cynthia Kelly, who had been a juror in the civil suit he brought against the City of Los Angeles. On March 3, 2011, the 20th anniversary of the beating, the LAPD stopped King for driving erratically and issued him a citation for driving with an expired license. This arrest led to a February 2012 misdemeanor conviction for reckless driving.

The BBC quoted King commenting on his legacy. "Some people feel like I'm some kind of hero. Others hate me. They say I deserved it. Other people, I can hear them mocking me for when I called for an end to the destruction, like I'm a fool for believing in peace."

Bibliography

In April 2012, King published his memoir, The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption. Co-authored by Lawrence J. Spagnola, the book describes King's turbulent youth as well as his personal account of the arrest, the trials, and the aftermath.

Death

On Fathers Day, Sunday June 17, 2012, Cynthia Kelly found King lying underwater at the bottom of his swimming pool. King died 28 years to the day after his father, Ronald King was found dead in his pool in 1984. Police in Rialto received a 911 call from Kelly at about 5:25 a.m. (PDT). Responding officers removed King from the pool and attempted to revive him. He was transferred by ambulance to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, California and was pronounced dead on arrival at 6:11 a.m. (PDT) The Rialto Police Department began a standard drowning investigation and said there did not appear to be any foul play. On August 23, 2012, King's autopsy results were released, stating he died of accidental drowning. The combination of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and PCP found in his system were contributing factors. The conclusion of the report stated: "The effects of the drugs and alcohol, combined with the subject's heart condition, probably precipitated a cardiac arrhythmia, and the subject, incapacitated in the water, was unable to save himself." King had been a user of PCP. Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy at King's funeral. King is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles County, California.

Legacy

Rodney King has become a symbol of police brutality, but his family remembers him as a "human not a symbol". King never advocated for hatred or violence against the police, saying that we needed to "all get along". He made this his foundation for the rest of his life. Since his death, his daughter Lori King has worked with the LAPD to build bridges between the police and the African-American community. She also started a non profit: The Rodney King Foundation for Social Justice and Human Rights, on behalf of her father.

In popular culture

The beating of Rodney King and its aftermath has been addressed frequently in art, including the 1997 film Riot; the Sublime song "April 29, 1992 (Miami)"; an extended discussion on the subject led by Edward Norton in the 1998 film American History X; the 2014 one-man play Rodney King by Roger Guenveur Smith, produced by Spike Lee and released on Netflix in 2017; and the 2016 exhibit Viral: 25 Years from Rodney King. Lee included a snippet of the Rodney King video in his 1992 film Malcolm X. Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary will be producing a docuseries through their company Revelations Entertainment on the life of Rodney King, to be released in 2018. The beating is also briefly mentioned in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story and Law & Order True Crime where Rodney King's case is referenced as the main reason for the outcome of the cases these two anthology miniseries are based on. The beating of Rodney King and the riots that followed were also mentioned in the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the rap group N.W.A.. the beating was also depicted in an episode of the tv show "9-1-1".

The 2017 film Kings takes place in South Los Angeles during the riots.

The 1999 documentary film The Rodney King Incident: Race and Justice in America produced and directed by Michael Pack features an interview with Rodney King.

Writer Nahshon Dion Anderson had a front row seat to the aftermath of the beating and recounts the details of March 3rd, 1991 in chapter four of her memoir Shooting Range. During 1991-1995 Nahshon was a neighbor of Rodney Kings mother, Odessa King, in Pasadena. She also discusses attending Marshall Fundamental Secondary School with Rodney's baby sister Ratasha and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

#04/02 #06/17

[hangonimevolving]

Inside Out and Upside Downs

Hi all.  Thought I’d update on various and sundry agenda items going on in my life.  Never a dull moment ‘round here.

HEALTH

Firstly, let’s talk about my innards.  There’s been a whole lot of activity going on with regard to my innards of late.  Thanks to the excitement of my Disney flu adventure and my New Years ICU party, I am now the subject of a great deal of medical speculation and attention, from a variety of parties.  I have a standing weekly blood draw and appointment on Thursdays with my hematologist (fancy word for blood doctor) to monitor my platelet levels, and other misc blood-related information that concerns immunoglobulins and weird, mysterious things like that.  I have had two appointments, as well as a momma-jomma lab workup, with a rheumatologist (fancy word for doctor who specializes in autoimmune issues).  I’ve had an appointment to set up care with a brand-new-to-me primary care physician.  And in the middle of all of this, I decided that since I’m going to be in/around the hospital so frequently, I might as well do a short course of physical therapy for my ankle - I never got around to doing it, so now is the time.  So that’s a recurring weekly appointment on Tuesdays.  I’ve also got random other crap, like a random head MRI happening tomorrow, and I’m sure there will be random tests, scans, and studies that random doctors will order at random times, and I’ll have to fit it into the schedule.  I am being thoroughly examined, inside out.  And with all of these medical opinions, appointments, tests and what not - in the last 24 days, there has been NO concrete diagnosis or evidence about why this whole thing actually happened.  There are several theories, the two most likely of which are a) I have an autoimmune disorder.  Well, we already know I have one autoimmune disorder (a not-so-bad one, called Graves Disease/hyperthyroidism, which I was first diagnosed with in 2006, and which involves your own body perceiving your own thyroid gland as a foreign object, and attacking it with antibodies).  But now there is some evidence that I may have a second one, possibly a more problematic one, that is causing my immune system to overreact to normal viruses and things, and go on self-destructive rampages against my own platelets.  Dumbass immune system.  Now, what IS this second autoimmune disorder?  THAT we don’t know.  Because, the rheumatologist ran that momma-jomma test I was telling you about, and all that showed up is this one value called a positive ANA test which indicated “daaamn, there’s something f%^ed going on in this lady’s immune system!”  It was a very high positive result.  But, the specific tests to identify antibodies for known issues like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. were all negative at this time.  So.  To be continued with that whole theory..... 

Then there is theory #2, which is b) maybe this whole thing really WAS just the flu.  Maybe the strain of virus I got was really bad, and it resulted in such a pronounced war that it just took a toll.  Dunno.

Anyway.  We’ll obviously be following this medical mystery with my innards closely the next few weeks.  Oh, and one more thing: so my platelet levels are sorta trending down.  At hospital discharge, I was at like 313K, then the next week it was like 250K, then 180K, and yesterday, 146K.  They’re going to keep monitoring, and the hope is that the downtrend will plateau at some point (preferably above 30K), and then it will start to climb up when my own bone marrow gets its shit together and starts producing new platelets.  If that doesn’t happen - I’m looking at more IVIG infusion treatments.  So let’s see how it all goes down.

WORK

A second area of activity has been my job!  The spring semester at Uuuu! started on January 13, and I am teaching two courses this time around, for the first time since 2016.  I am teaching my studio dance course, per usual, but I also agreed to a late plea for help from my former department to teach a lecture/discussion course that I’ve taught jillions of times before, but haven’t done in about four years.  It feels good to be back in classroom teaching mode.  The course meets three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  So I’m quite busy, leaving the house around 8 am to drop the kids off at school, then getting back behind the wheel and making the hour-long drive to campus, arriving by about 9:30 am and teaching my two courses back to back.  I have a big huge hike between my classes too, because they’re on opposite sides of campus, so by the time I’m done teaching, it’s about 12:20 and then I have this big long hike back to my car, then the drive back home, and I arrive around 1:30 pm.  I grab a bite to eat, then at 2:45 its time to get the kids.  Then three days a week, they have their extracurricular activities after school, so I’m shuttling them to those things.  Then Tuesdays and Thursdays, all my medical appointments, which have been taking the majority of my mornings and early afternoons.  Phew!  This is all a far cry from about a year ago, when I had several mornings a week to go for a long run, either in my neighborhood or at the local state park, and I was training intensely twice a week with my Spartan SGX coach.  I’ve had to seriously curtail my working out - I took a spill on my first run following the hospitalization, and the entire family freaked out about my putting myself at a bleed risk if I were to fall, bump myself, or otherwise get an injury, even a minor one, while exercising.  This has been a huge crimp in my style, not working out - and if I weren't so busy with teaching, I think it would seriously depress me.  But I keep telling myself its only temporary, and soon we’ll have some answers to my situation, and I”ll be able to get back into it.  Till then, I’m trying to get back into meal prep and eating clean, and doing some mild exercise like light jogs and walks, light weight training, etc.  

ADULTING

My mention of weight training is perhaps a segue to this next update, which I’ll keep brief and annoyingly vague.  I am going through some painful adulting right now, that makes some moments feel like I’m being swallowed up by a tsunami.  I’m gonna survive... but, yeah.  I’m wading in the flood right now.  

Okay, now for some miscellaneous updates.  Mainly so I can post some pictures.  This has been very text-heavy for my tastes.

MISC

On the topic of clean eating..... did you know that both papaya and pomegranate are natural platelet boosters?  Supposedly.  I’ve been doing a lot of research on foods and other natural ways to help boost my platelet production, and these were the top two foods that were consistently mentioned on platelet disorders blogs and forums.  I confess I’m not a big fan of these fruits - but I’ve tried to put my tastebuds aside, and incorporate them into every day.  Happily, papayas are widely available in the Miami area year-round. 

I’ve handled the pomegranate thing by buying 100% pomegranate juice, and making cocktails of pomegranate + papaya juice (which is papaya pulp mixed in pear juice).

On the topic of foods and eating well - here is my guilty indulgence of late.  I ADOOOOORE ramen bowls.  ADORE.  And I know they are the opposite of low-carb and healthy.... but I have been making a ton of them at home lately.  I try to make them as healthy as I can, by 1) only using half of the ramen spice packet that comes with the noodles - this cuts the sodium to a tolerable amount (plus I drink lots of water), 2) I sautée minced garlic + approximately one full cup of shiitake mushrooms + approximately 1.5 full cups of baby spinach leaves in a dash of olive oil, and add to every bowl I make (mushrooms are full of B-vitamins and, alongside garlic, are huge immunity boosters, and spinach is full of iron and calcium, and is a good thing for me to be eating to make my blood sort itself out) , and 3) I often either crack an egg over the entire boiling mixture right at the end, or I add in sliced hard-boiled egg for extra folate and protein.  And I sometimes add in a handful of raw shredded carrots right at the end, for a little crunch, color, fiber, and beta carotene.  I *think* that I’m doing my best to make this indulgence food a little healthier, and tailored to my specific medical situation.

Soup has been a huge craving of late, because we had a surprising cold spell in Miami.  It got down to 39F day before yesterday!  That’s probably the coldest its ever been since we moved to Florida.

Afternoon snuggle time was especially snuggly - Dey and I were huddled for warmth!

My ability to run and work out at a high intensity may be somewhat muted at the moment, and this has been sort of a hard mental adjustment for me.  But I am trying to get outside and do things, because it makes me feel better, and also I imagine the vitamin D is good for me.  The other day, I was feeling pretty dumpy and blah - so I did something that for some reason I’d been putting off, “saving” for a special occasion, whatever.  I cut the tags off of a brand-new Spartan licensed active top that I’d purchased on Cyber Monday, put it on, and went for a light 2-mile jog in the neighborhood.  I felt silly in a way of making a big thing of it in my head - but the truth is, it lifted my spirits.

What else... Oh, this was exciting!  GUESS WHAT, dudes.  On Monday, I saw a real live MANATEE in the lake behind our house!  I could hardly believe my eyes.  A neighbor had reported on our community WhatsApp group just the day before seeing a manatee from her backyard.  She posted a picture of it, which I am shamelessly going to post here.  The manatee I saw, about 24 hours later, was different - it was considerably smaller than this one, I think probably a juvenile (not quite a baby, but definitely not humongous like this one).  But it was swimming slowly near the sea wall that abuts our backyard, munching on some sea grass just like this big manatee.  I did my best to run into the house and call the kids to come out as quietly as they could to see it - I think they caught a tiny glimpse, but our footsteps must have spooked it, because it definitely swam away quickly.  I hope we’ll see it again!

Photographic evidence that we are LEGIT Floridians who hang out with manatees :)

Last but not least - on the topic of water creatures, gotta give a shout-out to my Vev, who “leveled up” at his swimming lessons this week to Junior Swim Team!  The swim school has about 10 levels through which kids have to work to get to this point, and in the last ~18 months, Vev has completed them all.  I was somewhat nostalgic and verklempt when he got his ribbon this time - I feel like it was only yesterday that we took him to swimming school for the first time, where he screamed bloody murder and cried the entire duration of his 25 minute assessment, clinging desperately to his teacher and feeling panicky about letting go in the water.  How far he’s come!

(by the way, Dey is also doing wonderfully at swimming, and is only like 1.5 levels away from his own Junior Swim Team ribbon).  

So some of my life is inside out and upside down right now, it is true.  But some of it is Upside-Up.  I work hard EVERY day to focus on the Upside-Up, and what a treat it is to see.  These kids, the sunshine I get to enjoy here, the afternoon snuggle times, delicious food that also is good for me.... net balance is that life is good, I’m still alive and kicking, and everything is gonna work out fine.

Toodles!

#fitness #platelets #Sickness #Vev #Dey #food #animals

[kimjongdaely]

My Pet Human [Chapter 4]

Vampire!AU

Pairing: Chen x Reader

Warnings: mention of blood, violence, slavery and sexual situations.

Summary: Every wrong step, every wrong turn led you to this moment. This moment where you would belong completely, utterly to the vampire Kim Jongdae, who never even wanted you in the first place.

Prologue│Chapter 1│Chapter 2│Chapter 3│Chapter 4│Chapter 5│ Chapter 6│Chapter 7│Chapter 8│Chapter 9│Chapter 10│Chapter 11│ Chapter 12│Chapter 13│Chapter 14 [M]│Chapter 15 [M]│Chapter 16│ Chapter 17│Chapter 18│Epilogue

You ended up not having much sleep.

Jongdae took you to the kitchen as promised, leaning against the counter as you rummaged the fridge for a carton of milk, pouring it into a mug and putting it in the microwave to warm it up. He didn’t look at you at all throughout—it seemed like he was just hanging out in the kitchen, though you know he’s watching out for you in his own, bizarre way.

That thought confused you, because you thought he didn’t like you, didn’t want anything to do with you.

Yet it comforted you a bit. At least he cared enough not to let another vampire mark you.

Your terrifying interaction with Baekhyun still burned in your mind, and was the main reason why you couldn’t find sleep. The places where he held you throbbed in pain, and you suppose they’re bruising, but you can’t be too sure in the dark.

You sat staring at the dark ceiling all night until you saw the first rays of the sun. You waited for another hour or so before you couldn’t stand the restlessness and jumped out of bed. It’s morning now; surely it’s more safe to go out.

You peaked out, surveying the hallway carefully. You’re sure there won’t be a random vampire just standing aimlessly in the hallway, but you wanted to be sure anyways.

You make your way downstairs, to the kitchen. You assume Hui and Thorn aren’t up yet, so you decide to make breakfast for them. As thanks for Hui’s warm hospitality, and to cheer Thorn up from the dark cloud around her.

When you set up the plates on the dining table, you hear the front door open and close. Who could it be? You make your way over curiously.

It’s Hui and Chanyeol, the latter holding two shopping bags. They seem to be happy as they chattered quietly to each other. Chanyeol—being a vampire and all—noticed you poking your head out first, letting out a wide grin and waving at you. “Morning! You’re up early.”

“Good morning.” You smile politely at him, folding your hands in front of you, your interactions with them still stiff.

“Perfect timing.” Hui claps her hands together and lets out an excited squeal, grabbing one of the bags from Chanyeol’s hand and rushing over to you. “We went to buy you a dress!”

“Dress?” Hui pushes the bag into your hands almost forcefully, so you have no choice to to hold it sheepishly. “Why?”

“Oh, it was Jongdae’s order.” Hui says, as if that answers all your questions. “Since we were going to go shopping anyway.”

“Wait,” you’re even more confused now. “Jongdae’s order? I don’t understand.”

“There’s going to be a ball tonight.”

You whirl around, looking up towards the stairs to find Jongdae leaning on the railing, chin propped up by his hand and watching you carelessly. “It’s adequate to bring your Pet with you. In that case, you’ll need a proper dress so you don’t embarrass our clan. Plus, I think it’s best you get some actual clothes.” He wrinkles his nose disapprovingly at the old, large t-shirt you wear.

You flush under his gaze, suddenly hyper-aware of your messy appearance. It’s not like you’ve ever had the time to make yourself pretty.

“In other words,” Hui cuts in, which you are very grateful for. “You’ll need to be energetic during the night—or at least awake. So—from experience—you should sleep more during the day.”

Oh great. You got out of bed so early because you couldn’t sleep. Now that you’re told that you have to sleep during the day as well, it seems like a toll. You mentally groan.

After Hui had finished her portion of breakfast (she hugged you in delight when she saw it and wouldn’t stop praising you), it was already around morning—the usual time people wake up. Thorn wobbled in as unsteady as ever, her face even more pale than the day before.

“He fed.” You catch Hui murmur to herself, shaking her head almost out of anger…but more like pity.

You flash Thorn a small smile when she nears the dining table, offering softly, “I made you breakfast.”

“Thank you.” She whispers, voice hoarse when she slumps down in the chair. You didn’t mean to stay and watch, but the way she struggles to swallow the food makes your heart wrench for her. If you could, you would definitely punch Baekhyun in the pretty face without hesitation.

If you could.

You sigh at the thought and decide to leave and let her eat in peace. The more you watched her, the more unease you feel. You wonder for a moment if you should paint a bit more before heading to bed. You decide that painting might help you relieve some stress and make your mind more at ease.

You went to bed after a light lunch. The tiredness of not sleeping the whole night finally caught up to you and made you sleepy, though it still took a while before you fell asleep.

You were waken up by shaking. You groaned, blinking in your room and realizing that it had gotten quite dark. The person shaking you was Hui, who looked at you with a grin.

“Time to wake up!” She sang. “We need to get you dressed up!”

You groggily get up, stretching out before you let Hui pull you up. She’s humming as she straightens the dress she holds in her hands, setting it neatly on your bed before she turns to you with a wide smile. “Okay, strip.”

You sputter, eyes wide because you weren’t expecting her to actually actually help you change! You shake your head, taking an immediate step back. “It’s okay! I can change myself!”

“But this dress is quite hard to wear on your own.” She frowns stepping closer to you. “It’s okay~ We’re both girls!”

Her eagerness almost makes you laugh as you continue shaking your head. “I want to take a shower first. If I can’t get it on right, you can come back and help me.”

She pouts, but nods. “Alright.” She calls as she leaves your room, “Call me when you’re done!”

When she’s gone, you let out a sigh of relief. You immediately make your way to the bathroom, hurrying to take a shower. From the sounds of it, this ball is quite important and you certainly don’t want to go as your stinky, messy self. You don’t want to embarrass Jongdae or his clan, don’t want to make him hate you any more.

When you finish trying yourself, you reenter your room to examine the dress Hui got for you. It’s a beautiful shade of pale pink, with delicate gold embroidery throughout the fabric. The straps are off the shoulder, the waist is slim, but it fans out from your hip in curtain-like folds.

It’s beautiful.

Too beautiful.

How could someone like you wear something like this? You’d look like a fool. Nonetheless, you slip into the dress, the silky material caressing your skin and making you shiver at the coldness from being unworn.

There are zippers and ribbons at the back that is difficult for you to tie yourself, so you call for Hui to come back—which she waltzes back in. Her eyes widen on you, a gasp leaving her lips as her hand flies to her mouth. “Wow.”

“I don’t fit it, do I?” You ask glumly, looking at the floor and afraid to meet her eyes.

“No, not at all!” Your heart sinks until she clarifies, “You look absolutely stunning. It fits you so well—I told Chanyeol this would look good on you and yet he wanted the blue one! Ugh!”

You smile at her before you turn to let her strap you up. When you’re done she makes you turn again to ‘admire you.’ “Let’s style your hair.”

She dried your hair and curled it, styling it into a half-up-half-down look. Elegant yet simple, she said. She added light makeup to finish the look, not taking no for an answer.

At last, your makeover is complete. As you look at yourself in the mirror, it’s hard to believe it’s really you. You’ve been eating better, so in the last two days you look healthier, your cheeks not as sunken and your skin not as pale. You could almost pass as someone from a higher class.

The thought makes you laugh. If only.

Hui returned to her own room to get ready, so in the meantime you wander around your room, trying to get used the feel of the dress. It’s a bit heavier than you expected, and your shoes are digging into your skin uncomfortably. You’ve never worn such things in your life.

After a while, there’s a crisp knock on your door. It must be Hui to get you, so you quickly head to open the door.

It’s not Hui.

It’s Jongdae, much to your surprise.

And he looks devilishly good in his black suit, his hair styled effortlessly. He raises a brow at you, watching you. There’s a pause, and you hold your breath, wondering if he’s going to say anything about how you look. But then he simply says, “It’s time to go.”

You deflate slightly as you follow him out, unable to stop the small pout appearing on your lips.

The others have already gathered in the lobby—Chanyeol with Hui in a lovely dress with a gradient of the colors of the sunset and her hair up in a delicate bun, Baekhyun with Thorn in a black laced dress, Kyungsoo, the man who was driving when you first arrived at the mansion, and four other men you’ve never met.

“By the way,” Hui beams as she hurries over to you to link her arm with yours. “You were never properly introduced to the others!” She points at a tall man, his face as perfect as a statue’s. “This is Sehun, the youngest.”

Age seems like a bizarre thing when referring to vampires, but you nod.

She points at another equally tall man, but his skin is less pale than the others—just slightly, barely noticeable, but it makes him look a little more alive than the others, not as delicate. “This is Jongin, the second-youngest.” She then points at a slightly shorter man with large, pretty eyes. “This is Minseok, the eldest.” He points at the man standing in the middle amongst them—the man who was driving when you first came—but the way he stands now seems filled with authority. “This is Junmyeon, the leader of this clan.” Then at another who has a gentle face, even warmer than Chanyeol. “And finally, this is Yixing.”

He smiles at you, and for some reason it soothes you. Just is presence suddenly makes your nerves practically nonexistent. How strange.

“Alright, it’s time.” Junmyeon clears his throat, making his way out the mansion. Outside there are several cars parked waiting for them.

You follow Jongdae to the third car, and to your surprise, he holds the door for you, waiting for you to get in first.

“Oh, thank you.” You murmur as you get in, struggling with your dress and shoes which makes your cheeks flush in embarrassment. He slips in next to you, his movements smooth and fluid, a further contrast to your human clumsiness.

The car starts, and you opt for watching the scenery just like last time.

“During the ball,” Jongdae speaks, directed towards you though he doesn’t look at you. “You’re not allowed to leave from my side. It’s filled with vampires, so if you’re not careful, you might get attacked.”

You gulp, shivering at the thought. You nod at him, though you’re not sure being by his side is any safer, nor will it settle your nerves.

Though you find that, oddly, thinking about the man named Yixing and his gentle expression is an effective way to settle your racing heart.

Previous Chapter│Next Chapter

My Pet Human Mini Masterlist

A/N: What will happen at the ball? I’m just so excited for this fic so I’m updating more than my other fics and I feel kinda bad about it but not at the same time 😂 Thank you all for reading~

Tags: @loser-dot-com​​ @lis-redfox​​ @baekfanapleintemps​ @a-mistake-tbh​  @dear-fake-diary @kjds-pretty-nipps @xius-exos @thevirginvegetarian @g-exo @shinrin-yokeu @blusyd @aeri-angel @baekhyunsonly @amznmmdprncss @paljungmu

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[tiramisiyu]

Tears of Themis: Main Story 4-3 Translation

Translated parts:

Chapter 4 – Heart’s Fire: 4-1 / 4-3 / 4-5 / 4-6 / 4-8 / 4-9 / 4-11 / 4-12 / 4-13 / 4-15 / 4-17 / 4-18

Translation Masterlist: here

Video: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1s5411b7Yu?p=2

Zuo Ran’s Office

Cui Yuan, the suspect of Huang Haochu’s murder, is right now in custody at the police station. Lu Jinghe had reserved to meet him at 9:00 AM tomorrow.

I returned to the law firm, planning to check the archives for this case’s file. Plus, I also had to discuss adjusting my work hours with Zuo Ran.

I told Zuo Ran about the situation regarding how I was going to meet with Lu Jinghe. After listening, Zuo Ran had a hard-to-describe expression…

Zuo Ran: …

MC: Lawyer Zuo, does this case… have problems?

Zuo Ran: Lu Jinghe’s reasoning was that having the Lu family’s lawyers appear would cause trouble?

MC: That’s right.

MC: He actually did seem to be very embarrassed. On the surface, the lives of wealthy people seem to have no bounds, but the difficulties and sadnesses they face are hard to be experienced by outsiders.

Zuo Ran: …

Zuo Ran looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just sighed.

MC: …?

Zuo Ran: You can try taking over for this case. Huang Haochu’s murder case is one of the cases in X-Note.

Zuo Ran: Its number is NXX-1036. Its priority ranking is not that high. It’s considered a mental disorder case.

MC: Mental disorder?! Does this refer to… Huang Haochu’s depression?

Zuo Ran: That’s right. Because of the pressure of public opinion, Huang Haochu suffered from depression.

Zuo Ran: After receiving treatment, though it can’t be said that he got better, but he also shouldn’t have had a tendency to want to commit suicide. 

Zuo Ran: But the police maintain that Cui Yuan assisted Huang Haochu in his suicide.  In this explanation, there should be something hidden.  

As Zuo Ran said this, he opened the file for Case 1036 and projected it on the workbench. 

MC: The murder weapon of Huang Haochu’s murder is Cui Yuan’s tie. 

MC: Plus, based on the monitor at his house’s main door, the only one who came in and out was also only Cui Yuan.

MC: When Huang Haochu was discovered, the sofa cushion beside his hand was scratched until it was worn out. This shows that it was caused by suffocation. 

MC: The police inferred from this that Huang Haochu was willing to die, so they arrived at the conclusion that Cui Yuan assisted in Huang Haochu’s suicide. 

Zuo Ran: This is just one of the bases. The forensic report has even more detailed evidence. 

Zuo Ran: Additionally, police found cyanide in Huang Haochu’s book table drawer. It confirms that Huang Haochu did consider suicide. 

MC: Cyanide?

MC: Such a highly poisonous drug can’t be obtained by normal methods. 

I continued to flip through the NXX-1036 records. In the timeline for Huang Haochu’s depression, I noticed a new name - Yuan Ting. 

MC: This Yuan Ting was… Huang Haochu’s care worker?

Zuo Ran: In treatment of depression, a family member or friend is needed to accompany them.  But Huang Haochu did not marry - he was always single. 

Zuo Ran: So after his sickness, Cui Yuan found a professional care worker for him to accompany him by having conversations and relieving boredom.

MC: Cui Yuan so meticulously cared for Huang Haochu’s life. He definitely would not do as the media stated as truth (?) and let Huang Haochu be the scapegoat.

MC: The way he treated Huang Haochu is also full of contradictions.

Zuo Ran: Huang Haochu had the identity of being a partner of the auction house.  No matter if it’s him or Cui Yuan, neither could confess to swapping the auctioned items. 

Zuo Ran: Otherwise, the loss caused to Leinster would be unbearable.

Zuo Ran: But at that time, Huang Haochu was already being watched by the media.  Having all fingers pointed to one person is at least better than both people being condemned to eternal damnation. 

MC: Cui Yuan just wanted to save whatever was possible, but who would’ve thought that in the end, it would even result in one’s death…

MC: Right, this Yuan Ting - where did he go when the crime happened?

Zuo Ran: Taking a day off. He went on vacation to the neighbouring province. 

Zuo Ran: Forensics concluded, Huang Haochu’s murder was at last year, November 12th, between 6PM to 12AM. 

Zuo Ran: Huang Haochu’s death was discovered on November 13th early morning, around 7AM.

Zuo Ran: The worker who has long been dispatched to deliver fresh produce deliveries for the Huang house knew that Huang Haochu had depression.

Zuo Ran: He noticed no one was at home, and he couldn’t get through to Huang Haochu’s phone, so he called police out of vigilance.

Zuo Ran:  Yuan Ting returned in advance after receiving the police’s contact.

X-Note’s records were consistent with the archives in the police’s big data centre. 

Thus, under this situation where no new evidence came out, Cui Yuan really could not avoid suspicion. The murder weapon, the murder timing, all of it pointed to him. 

As for the motive of committing the crime, whether it was from a quarrel as the media said, or as the police concluded - assisted suicide, either explanation made sense. 

Lu Jinghe wanting to overturn the police’s conclusion in such a short time, is way too hard…

MC: Right, Lu Jinghe, he…

Could he be a member of the NXX investigation group?

I wanted to ask Zuo Ran, but after seeing his probing eyes, I hesitated.

I haven’t yet agreed to be added by Zuo Ran into the investigation group yet. Asking this kind of thing… probably wasn’t quite right?

Zuo Ran: You wanted to ask, is Lu Jinghe a member of the investigation team?

At the end, I still got seen through by Zuo Ran. I embarrassedly nodded.

MC: I know this isn’t something I should ask. Lawyer Zuo, you don’t have to tell me. 

Zuo Ran: Why guess at Lu Jinghe's identity? Just because he’s the executive CEO of Pax?

MC: At the beginning I thought - Pax funding the establishment of NXX was something that Lu Jinghe could not have been unaware of. 

MC: But when he reached out about this case 1036, if Lu Jinghe was a member of the investigation team, then his behaviour would make even more sense.

MC: He was eager to investigate, which was likely due to being afraid that clues would be lost after a sentence was announced for the case. 

MC: Not using the power of the Lu family was because NXX’s investigations are a secret. 

Zuo Ran: Just now, I was even worried that your occasional simpleness would make it easy for you to suffer losses.  Now I see that it wasn’t necessary.

MC: Eh? Lawyer Zuo, earlier you didn’t look so good - was it because you were worried about me? 

Zuo Ran very unnaturally turned away his line of sight…

Zuo Ran:...

MC: (Lawyer Zuo really is a very considerate senior, he’s just not very good at showing it.)

MC: Don’t worry. Basically because I haven’t yet been added into NXX, Lu Jinghe hasn’t said clearly that we’re investigating 1036. He wasn’t hiding it on purpose. 

MC: Besides, his sad expression… no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t look like he’s acting. 

Though I had a certain answer in my heart, Lu Jinghe’s identity still made me feel that it wasn’t quite true. 

He could be a relaxed artist, an unrestrainable rich family’s young master - not a single bit was like that of a member of a secret investigation group.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, have some confidence in me. If i were really stupid, always getting tricked and suffering losses, how could I have been your partner?

Zuo Ran: Sheesh, you…

Zuo Ran: Have you finished considering that thing? Will or won’t you join NXX?

MC: If I can prove that X03A wasn’t just one case with Gong Cheng, but it was instead it was with Heirson, as well as more businesses related to the production of illegal drugs.

MC: Even if it’s dangerous, I hope that Lawyer Zuo can allow me to enter NXX.

MC: I want to help more people like Qiao Qiao. I want to prevent Qiao Qiao’s tragedy from repeating. 

Zuo Ran: Very good. I didn’t find the wrong person.

Zuo Ran: X03A has already been sent to Pax for a chemical assay. We’ll be able to get a detailed report after a bit of time. 

Zuo Ran: Before that happens, if you want to look through more information, I can give you authorization to access internal data for NXX.

Zuo Ran: Find a time for me to bring you to the base, to input your identification info. 

MC: That’s great.

MC: Right, Lawyer Zuo, does Stellis City really have so many case files? The case numbers have already reached four digits. 

I’d wanted to ask this question ever since I saw the identification number 1036. 

Stellis City’s law and order system was one of the best in the country. Not even considering murder cases, just public security cases were significantly lower in number compared to other cities.

Zuo Ran: Not necessarily. I mostly organize missing persons cases; their identification numbers are all three digits. 

Zuo Ran: Cases relating to mental disorders are for another person to organize. He uses four digits for their identification numbers. 

MC: So it’s like this...that’s good. 

MC: Though I’m a lawyer, I still hope that this world will have no strife in it.

MC: Though I would be unemployed, this would be a happy thing.

Zuo Ran: Sheesh, you - your head is full of naive thoughts.

MC: Though it can’t be done, can’t I still think about it - Lawyer Zuo, you’re too strict.

Zuo Ran: Of course you can think about it. Plus… I quite like this way of thinking that you have.

Zuo Ran: “The direction that we lawyers drive towards every day, is towards the day where we will one day be unemployed.”

Zuo Ran: He also said these kinds of words before…

Zuo Ran’s faintly smiling expression showed significant feelings and memories. 

A name suddenly flashed in my mind - Nie Qiu. 

Could Professor Nie, Zuo Ran’s teacher, be the “he” that Zuo Ran just mentioned?

#tot translation #tears of themis #未定事件簿 #weiding shijian bu

[arituzz]

Famous Last Words 3

http://arituzz.tumblr.com/post/170922630138/famous-last-words-4-SNOWBAZ-

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

Summary: When your family was a wreck and your perfect girlfriend just left you for your irritating classmate, the only way to carry on was to make a truce with the enemy, right?

OR

High school AU in which Simon and Baz pretend to be boyfriends to save Simon’s love life.

Chapter word count: 5.2k

Rating: T

Tags: High School AU, fake boyfriends, mutual pining, fluff, a little bit of angst (later on), music, theater, rock band

Also on AO3

Thanks to @velvetnoodle for being my amazing beta :)

Cherry and Scone had been Simon’s only friends until Penny came along. He told them everything. Simon was fully aware they were just cats, so they didn’t understand what Simon was saying, but he also knew that they could understand his feelings; they were always there for him when he was sick or sad.

Simon had taken them in from the streets when he was ten years old. He took pity of them and decided to hide the kittens in his room. Eventually, Davy found out about them and tried to kick them out on many occasions. But they always came back to Simon.

“Baz kissed me,” he told them. Cherry looked at him and meowed. “Yeah, yeah, I know he only did it because Ebb was standing behind me.” Simon brought his finger to his lips “He kissed me…” It was now Scone who looked at Simon as if accusing him. “Don’t look at me like that! I know he isn’t my real boyfriend. I don’t want him to be.” Cherry yawned and left for the dining room. Scone started licking his brown fur. “Okay, fine, I’ll shut up,” he said, picking Scone up and going to his room. “But, for the record, I’m not obsessed. And I didn’t like it.”

Simon tried to sleep. He really did try. But all he managed to do was: Toss and turn in bed for thirty minutes, get some midnight snacks, roam some more, annoy the cats, zap through the many TV channels—no, seriously, so many; but sadly, quantity and quality were often indirectly proportional and Simon always ended up watching the Nature channel. But today he couldn’t even enjoy the Nature channel. He couldn’t stop thinking about how the following day would go. If Baz would kiss him again…

He walked out of the sofa and decided to go to the school roof. At least there he could see the stars.

xxx

Simon knew that the trip to Watford would take him half an hour. He also knew that it would be dark in the streets, and that the autumn weather wouldn’t be gentle. Another thing he knew was that he would have to climb the entrance in order to get in. What Simon didn’t know was what he’d find once he was there. Or rather, who.

There was Baz, leaning against the wall. It was not his usual, smugly, casual Baz Lean that he pulled off to pretend he didn’t care about anything. It was quite the opposite. The back of his head was resting on the wall with his right arm up above his forehead, his face tilted upwards. His eyes were closed and his chest moved up and down as he breathed. It almost looked like he was crying. A cigarette was consuming itself between his fingers. 

“Baz?”

Baz took a deep breath before opening his eyes. “Snow,” he said, and tossed the remnants of the cigarette on the floor. He quickly shifted from his position to a full-on Baz Lean — arms and legs crossed, shit-eating grin. “Have you been following me again?”

“What? No!” Simon protested. “I couldn’t sleep,” he confessed. Then he added, “Just like you.”

Baz arched his eyebrows. “What makes you think so?”

Simon didn’t know how he knew it. He just did. It was always like that with Baz. Simon shrugged.

Unexpectedly, a comfortable silence followed, in which Baz slid down, sitting on the ground, and Simon took the opportunity to look at the night sky. It was one of his favourite things about the roof. Sometimes, Simon liked to imagine he could fly and leave all his problems behind. Except, this time he didn’t really feel like escaping. Simon didn’t exactly understand why, but, right then, Baz felt more like a solution than a problem.

Simon looked back at Baz, who was staring straight into the distance, a blank look on his face. There was clearly something troubling him and Simon was determined to know what it was. “Twenty questions,” he said, like a revelation.

That seemed to bring Baz back to Earth. “What?”

“We could play twenty questions,” Simon explained. “You know, to get to know each other better. Since we’re boyfriends and all.”

“We are nothing,” Baz spat.

“I know. But we should know about each other if we’re going to pretend to be dating.” Simon sat on the floor beside Baz, leaning his shoulder against the wall.

“Fine,” Baz said after a long silence. “Let’s play your stupid game.” He took his packet of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and lit one.

Simon asked the first thing that came to his mind: “Why do you smoke?”

“I like it.”

“It’s gross. Stop it.”

“Because you tell me to?” Baz bitterly laughed.

“Well, yeah,” Simon said, matter-of-factly. “I don’t want to kiss an ashtray.”

“Fine,” Baz said, puffing out smoke. “Then I won’t kiss you anymore.”

“You know what?” said Simon, his fingers fidgeting in his hoodie pocket. Forget it…”

“What?” Baz smirked. “You want me to kiss you again?”

“No! I mean… Yes?” Simon said, playing with the palms of his hands. Baz never failed to make him nervous. Ever. “For the sake of our relationship.”

“Our fake relationship,” Baz supplied.

“Yeah.”

“Then you’ll have to bear with it,” Baz said, taking a puff on his cigarette. “The smoking.”

“Can’t you at least try?”

“Mind your own business, Snow,” he said. “Why do you work?”

“Huh?”

“It’s my turn asking,” Baz said. “I didn’t know your family had economic problems.”

“Well… Technically we don’t. But my dad encourages me to work,” Simon said, quoting his father. “He says that’ll sharpen my sword. Whatever that means,” he continued. “But it’s fine, I love working at the flower shop. Ebb is great. I think I want to be a florist, too,” Simon confessed. “Do you like flowers?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Just answer.”

“No,” Baz said, hurriedly. “Do you have a bad relationship with your father?”

“Yeah…” Simon said. And then, God knows why, he added, “We’re just very different people.” Simon didn’t know why he was opening up to Baz, of all people, but he kept talking, “Davy has great plans for me, and I just… I just want to be happy.”

Baz stood in silence for a moment. “It’s your turn, Snow,” he finally said.

“Right,” said Simon. “Where have you been?”

Baz didn’t answer.

“Baz?” Simon asked, more worried than impatient.

Baz pressed his fingertips into his forehead. “I’m too sober for this.”

“Baz…” Simon pried.

It wasn’t until after some minutes, that Baz looked back at Simon and said, “Do you promise me you won’t dig in if I tell you?”

“No,” Simon said. “You have to tell me, it’s how the game goes.”

Baz got up to leave. “Then fuck the game.”

“Baz! Wait,” Simon shouted after him. “I won’t ask any more questions,” he said. “I promise.”

Baz stopped on his tracks and turned to look at Simon. His eyes were piercing him. He let out a breath and then, very quietly, he said, “I was in jail.”

It took Simon a moment to process Baz’s words. Baz had been in jail. It took Simon the best of him not to ask why. Simon wondered if that was why he wanted his help. “It’s your turn,” he managed to say.

“I don’t want to play anymore,” Baz said. “Let’s go to sleep.”

“Okay,” Simon conceded. “Uhm… Can you drive me home?”

“Fine. But no questions.”

“No questions,” Simon reluctantly agreed.

They were silent for the rest of the trip home; except for Simon’s thoughts, that couldn’t be louder. His brain couldn’t stop providing possible scenarios for Baz’s incarceration: Drunk driving, drug possession, drug dealing, stealing…

“Snow.”

“Yeah?”

“Get out of the bloody car.”

Simon hadn’t realized they were parked before his house. “Oh. Right.”

Out of the blue, Baz said, “You should sleep through all morning.”

“I work at nine.”

“Then call and say you’re feeling sick.”

“No… I’ll be fine,” Simon said. “Why are you so worried about me?”

Baz tsked. “I’m not worried about you,” he said. “I don’t want to be the boyfriend of a zombie, that’s all.”

Simon looked at Baz’s eye-bags and guessed that one zombie in the relationship was enough. Although, Simon had always thought Baz was secretly a vampire. No human could be that fast on the pitch. Or that bloody good-looking. But he didn’t tell Baz. “Sure,” he said and went out of the car. “You should sleep, too.”

“Goodbye, Snow,” Baz said, starting the engine. Simon could barely close the door before Baz drove off.

xxx

Simon went to work without sleeping at all. Ebb insisted that he should go home and rest, but Simon was just fine. Sleepy, yes, but he could still work. There was no way he was going back home. (Simon would rather slip into a coma than miss a day of work.)

Plus, it was Saturday, which meant flower deliveries. Simon fucking loved flower deliveries. Not only because he got to drive a scooter, but also because he loved the way people’s faces lit up when receiving flowers. It was one of the greatest feelings ever.

Time passed quickly, the way it always did when Simon was working–when he was happy–and soon it was noon and his thoughts about Baz and the date they were supposed to be having that day made their way back to the top of Simon’s head.

If they weren’t really dating, did they have to go through the trouble of going on dates? Did Baz just say it because Dev and Niall were there? That would make sense. But… he also said he’d come, when none of his friends were around. That made less sense.

Soon enough, Simon stopped obsessing over Baz and The Date and started panicking instead. It was almost four in the afternoon and he hadn’t even changed. Not because he hadn’t tried, though. He’d spent the last half hour rummaging through his wardrobe, but everything was useless. Suddenly, it felt like he didn’t have any clothes at all. At least, none that were good enough to impress Baz.

Then, a thought smacked him: Why was he trying to impress Baz?

But before he could get the answer, the doorbell rang.

Simon looked at his phone. It was four o’clock sharp. Shit. Simon sighed, slipped into the first shirt and pair of jeans he saw, hoping it wouldn’t be too terrible, and went for the door.

“Hey,” he tried to say but his voice faltered. Because, holy fuck: Baz was all dressed up and holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand — red carnations, which in flower language meant “my heart aches for you.” (Not that Baz knew, of course.) (In Baz language it probably meant something along the lines of  “I really despise you but, since I am so cool, I bought you roses. Or whatever these are.” )

Baz wasn’t in a suit, but close. He was wearing a black, fitted blazer, dark jeans—not shredded!—a silk plaid shirt, and a pair of shoes that were probably made in Italy.

Baz looked at Simon from top to bottom in a disgusted face. “Seriously?” he said.

“What?” Simon asked, and then he realized Baz was looking at Simon’s clothes. Oh. “What’s wrong with my clothes?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

Baz cocked an eyebrow. “Everything?”

“Should I go change?”

Baz hesitated and pursed his lips in an awkward face, avoiding Simon’s stare. “No,” he said. Simon had seen that face before — Baz was probably blushing. “We’ll be late for the movie.”

“Okay,” Simon shrugged. “Let me put these in water,” he said, taking the flowers. “And, uhm. Thanks.”

xxx

They arrived at the theater with plenty of time to spare.

They discussed which movie they would watch, while they stood in queue. Baz wanted to watch a belic movie, Dunkirk or something, whereas Simon prefered a comedy. Or an animated movie.

“We’re not watching Cars 2,” Baz argued.

“Three,” Simon corrected. “Why not?”

Baz rolled his eyes. “I won’t. If you want to watch it, go by yourself.”

Fine. If Baz wasn’t ready to acknowledge that some animated films were brilliant, it wasn’t Simon’s fault. Whatever. “What about a horror one?” Simon suggested.

“No,” Baz said, almost too quickly and averting his eyes. “I’m not in the mood for a horror movie.”

Yeah. Sure. Right. Simon didn’t buy it, not even for a second. He was delighted to know that Baz I-put-a-lot-of-effort-into-having-a-scary-appearance Pitch was actually afraid of horror movies. Best thing he’d heard all day.

“Why are you grinning like an idiot?” asked Baz.

“Nothing,” Simon said, biting his lip.

“Stop it.”

Simon faked a stern face but only made it worse and had a laugh attack.

“Boys,” someone brought their attention. It was the girl in the ticket window. “Less flirting, more choosing,” she said. “I don’t have all day.”

“Two tickets for Wonder Woman,” said Baz. “Please.”

They entered the theater room a couple of minutes late because Simon wanted to buy popcorn and candy bars. Who the hell doesn’t? thought Simon. Baz was annoyed because he missed the movie teasers, one of the best things about going to the theater, he said. Simon wondered from what fucking planet he’d come. Probably one far from the Solar System, like Kepler-22b. Or Qo’noS.

It turned out, Wonder Woman was the best freaking movie ever. Simon didn’t really like Superhero movies that much, but this one was different. Plus, Diana was fucking cute.

When the movie ended, Baz didn’t say anything, he just smirked at Simon.

If Baz weren’t evil, he’d be bloody perfect, too. Actually, Baz would make a pretty competent superhero, Simon thought. And so he told him.

“Are you shitting me, Snow?” asked Baz.

“What? No,” said Simon. “Why?”

“Are you saying that, among the two of us, I would make a good superhero?”

“If you weren’t evil.”

Baz smirked. “Everyone knows you’d be the chosen one, Snow.”

“What do you mean?” Simon asked.

“Are you honestly telling me you don’t see your fucking giant hero complex?”

“My what?”

“You like to take sacrifices for the rest,” Baz explained. “So everyone can go behind you, licking your bloody arse.”

“It’s called being nice,” argued Simon. “You should try it sometime.”

Baz simply said, “You’d be the Chosen One.”

“I’m not Chosen One material,” Simon protested. “I’m not special.”

Baz swallowed, frowning at Simon. “You’d be the worst Chosen One that’s ever been chosen.”

Yeah, there he was right. “And you’d be the broody villain, making everyone unhappy because of how deeply misunderstood he was.”

Baz looked like he was about to deny it but he was cut off by a member of the theater staff, asking them to leave the room so they could clean. Apparently, they’d been talking for some time after the movie ended.

xxx

They decided to go to the Wavering Café by foot, since it was only a five minute walk away.

They were arguing about something stupid when Baz grabbed Simon’s hand and pulled him into an alley.

Two thoughts immediately crossed Simon’s mind: Baz was going to beat him up; or, Baz was going to snog him senseless. That’s what always happened in movies and fanfiction.

But he did neither. Thankfully. Baz was looking carefully at the main street, as if he didn’t want someone to see him. Then it clicked for Simon: They were hiding.

Simon tempted a look at the street and recognized a woman, Baz’s aunt Fiona. “Why are we hiding from your aunt?”

“She may or may not think I have a date,” Baz explained.

“Why would she think that?” asked Simon.

Baz looked at him as if he was utterly stupid. “Because I told her?”

“Then why are we hiding?”

“I didn’t tell her the date was with you,” Baz said. “She doesn’t like you.”

Simon was well aware Baz’s family hated him and his father, but he couldn’t care less — the feeling was mutual. Plus, Baz’s dad was a dentist, and Simon didn’t trust dentists. (The electric chair was invented by a dentist.)

And despite all his makeup and all the effort he put into looking like a bad boy, Baz was kind of cute right now. He was just a boy, hiding from his aunt. Simon thought he liked Baz like that, when he forgot to be evil. It almost didn’t feel like a fake date.

But yeah, no. Baz was the enemy. And the fact that they were still holding hands didn’t make it any easier to hate him.

“Okay, she’s gone,” he said. “We can go.”

Baz let go of Simon’s hand and they resumed their way to the Wavering Café.

xxx

As Simon had expected, Agatha was working today. Simon knew she liked her work way more than she liked Watford. Agatha was a good student, she also did ballet and was in the school chorus, but only in the Wavering Café did she look like she was in her place.

Mindy was working today, too.

Baz supported his arm against the bar counter and looked at Simon. “What do you want, love?” he asked.

“Uh… I…” Simon was suddenly nervous. “Tea, please,” he said to Mindy. “And cherry scones.”

Baz said, “Pumpkin mocha breve for me.”

“Pumpkin what?” Mindy asked.

Baz explained Mindy how to prepare his ridiculous beverage while Simon made an apologetic face to her.

“Thanks, Mindy,” Simon said when she gave them what they ordered.

They settled on a nearby table, just the right distance from Agatha that it didn’t seem too deliberate.

“Did you know that a snail can sleep for three years?”

Baz looked at Simon over his cup. “Why the fuck would I know that?”

Simon shrugged. “Just trying to make conversation,” he said, stuffing a scone into his mouth. Then, he pointed at Baz’s cup and asked, “Is that good?”

“Try it,” Baz said, handing the cup to Simon.

It was the second time he had offered Simon an indirect kiss. Of course Baz wouldn’t think of that as much as Simon did… He probably didn’t think about it at all.

Simon took the cup, his fingers brushing Baz’s and took a sip. “It’s too sweet,” he concluded, and gave the drink back to Baz.

Baz snorted. “Says the one who’s just eaten his weight in sweets.”

“Yeah, eaten,” said Simon. “Drinking is different.”

Baz turned out to be a pretty decent company, when he wasn’t trying to make Simon’s life miserable. They talked about their schedules, even though Simon already knew exactly when and where Baz dedicated his spare time. (Except for the band thing.) (And the being in jail thing.)

“What a mess,” Baz said all of a sudden, with a displeased look. Seeing that Simon didn’t understand, he elaborated, “Your shirt.”

Simon looked at his white shirt. Except it wasn’t white anymore. Eating the scones had led to accidentally staining the shirt, which was now of a reddish colour. “Yeah… S’okay,” said Simon.

Baz arched an eyebrow. “It’s not?”

“It’s an old shirt anyway… Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not fucking worried about that, you idiot.” Baz lowered his voice because some people were looking at them, Agatha included. Then, he put his hand over Simon’s on the table, intertwining their  fingers. “I’m worried because now everybody will see me, and you, like this,” he said, gesturing towards Simon’s shirt. “They will all know you don’t care.”

“Care about what?”

“About me.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry,” Simon said. “When does the gig start?”

“At ten, why?”

“We can go to my place before it starts, so I can change,” said Simon. And then he added, “I can also make sandwiches if you want.”

“Alright.”

“Will you perform like that?” Simon asked Baz.

“No,” he replied. “I have spare clothes in the car.”

“Oh. Okay.”

xxx

The first and only person Simon had brought home was Penny. Although they both prefered to hang out at hers, she often visited him and helped him with his homework before settling on the sofa and marathoning Doctor Who. Penny was used to Simon’s mess of a room and even though she didn’t like Davy, they tolerated each other.

With Baz, it was a whole new experience. It was like he himself was seeing the house for the first time, noticing everything that was wrong with it: the awkwardness of the decoration, the severe lack of family pictures… His eyes localized every speck of dirt, every little imperfection and maximized it ten times.

“Sorry for the mess,” was all Simon could say. Baz didn’t say anything but, knowing him, Simon was sure he was regurgitating inside.

Cherry and Scone abandoned their place on the sofa–they fucking knew how much Davy hated them sleeping on his cross-stitched pillows, Simon couldn’t be more proud of them—and came to say hi to Simon.

When they saw Baz, the cats started rubbing against him—of course they did, cats went to negative energy, and Baz was a giant focus of it. He was like the Santa Claus of negativity, delivering it indiscriminately. Negativity for everyone. Simon was almost 100% sure that was Baz’s life motto.

Baz looked like he was constipated.

“Wait. You’re not allergic to cats, are you?” asked Simon.

“No. I’m not,” he said it like it was a bad thing. “My jeans are ruined.”

Fucking hell, no. Baz wasn’t allergic to cats. He was allergic to happiness.

“Your bathroom,” Baz said. “Can I use it?”

“Sure,” said Simon, shrugging.

Baz waited.

“Oh. It’s down the corridor,” Simon explained. “I’ll be in my room,” he said, gesturing towards his room door.

Baz nodded and went for the toilet.

Simon fed the cats and went to his room. He yanked off his shirt and threw it on the dirty clothes pile, aka the floor. He opened his wardrobe again and had this feeling of deja vu. What was the clothing etiquette for attending your fake boyfriend’s gig?

Simon had never been to a concert. Not because he didn’t like music, he loved music. But he prefered the theater over the club.

He decided to consult the oracle, which was normally Penny or, in her absence, google. Simon grabbed his phone and typed ‘appropriate clothes to wear to a satanic band concert.’

Dark clothes, apparently. Was he supposed to wear makeup, too? Simon looked at his clothes. There were many white shirts: Red shirts, yellow shirts, orange shirts, a couple of blue shirts, a grey shirt—with green letters that read Everyone deserves a chance to fly from Wicked, that Penny had given him last Christmas—and one single dark shirt with a glow-in-the-dark TARDIS on it.

“I couldn’t find your–” Baz started as he entered the room. Simon turned around and caught his eye. Baz looked away, swallowing. “Hand soap.”

“Davy doesn’t let me buy it,” Simon explained. “Says it’s harmful for my skin. We have hand sanitizer…”

Simon suddenly felt self-conscious and exposed so he grabbed the Doctor Who shirt and put it on.

Baz was looking intently at the room walls — they were filled with Simon’s drawings. Mostly portraits of Cherry and Scone, some of Penny and Agatha, and also some weird surreal stuff that came to his mind. (Dragons, vampires, magic…)

Baz shifted his gaze to Simon’s shirt. “No way,” he said. “You’re not wearing that to my concert.”

“Why not?”

Then Baz said, very carefully, making a full stop after every word, “My boyfriend is not going to wear a fucking Doctor Who shirt to my fucking gig.”

“Uhm. Then you choose,” Simon told him, gesturing towards his wardrobe.

Baz sighed. “I’ll just give you one of the band.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’ll be right back.”

Meanwhile, Simon went to the kitchen and prepared the sandwiches.

Baz came back completely changed: he was still wearing jeans, but these were black and shredded, and he wore a black T-shirt that read THE INSIDIOUS HUMDRUM in blood red decorative letters, and a red skull with a pair of drums instead of bones. He handed Simon another one. “Large, right?”

“What?”

“Your size.”

“Oh,” Simon realized. Everyone always guessed he used a medium size but Simon’s shoulders were actually too broad, so he had to take a larger size. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Simon took the shirt and put it aside for later, he didn’t want to ruin it while eating the sandwiches.

xxx

They were almost late for Baz’s gig at the World of Mages. And, surprisingly, Baz wasn’t too grumpy about it. Although it wasn’t entirely Simon’s fault—they both had forgotten to look at the clock—Simon expected Baz to blame him anyway. But he didn’t. And it was not like Baz to miss the opportunity to practice his favourite sport: complaining about Simon.

Baz left Simon on the entrance and went to the backstage without saying a word.

“Simon!” His thoughts were halted by Penny’s arms around him. She loved to hug him. “Oh my God, you’re wearing a band shirt! Wait, are you wearing makeup?”

“Just eyeliner.” Simon shrugged. “Baz insisted.”

“Look who’s there,” said Penny, visibly annoyed, pointing towards the other side of the room where Rhys, Gareth, and Trixie were.

“Great!” Simon said, excited. “The guys came too.” He wasn’t sure they’d come, he knew Rhys didn’t like pubs. (Mostly because pubs didn’t like Rhys, either, since many of them weren’t exactly wheelchair friendly.)

“No,” Penny said. “Trixie. Did you invite her, too?”

“Uh… I don’t think so?” Simon didn’t bother to tell her that the Penny-Trixie rivalry was ridiculous and completely one-sided, he had already tried many times before, unsuccessfully. Penny and Trixie were deskmates, like Simon and Baz, but all Penny could complain about was Trixie’s girlfriend, Keris, sometimes occupying her seat. At least her deskmate wasn’t an evil ex-con who tried to bring her downfall.

Besides, Simon liked Trixie. She was with him in drama class and it was fun. She was a bit manic, but she was nice.

A few minutes afterwards the lights of the club went out and someone started playing the drums. A few people whistled in excitement. Then, the stage came to life as the rest of the band started playing, too, illuminated by a couple of light focus: Niall at the bass, Dev at the drums, Baz at the guitar. Simon could feel his heart on his throat. It was an incredible sensation, actually.

A girl came into the stage and started singing. Keris.

“Guess that explains the Trixie thing,” Simon whispered into Penny’s ear. She just harrumphed.

Penny and Simon went to the front with Gareth, Rhys, and Trixie.

For some reason, Simon couldn’t look away from Baz. He couldn’t stop watching how his slim dark fingers danced along each string. He couldn’t help notice how he closed his eyes and bit his lower lip. He also sang the chorus alongside Niall.

They played a few songs Simon hadn’t heard before and then one caught his attention.

I’m strong on the surface… Not all the way through.

Baz was singing it, not just the chorus. Simon knew what song it was because he’d listened to it many times in Baz’s car. It was “Leave Out All The Rest”, by Linkin Park. Simon liked that song. He loved it, actually. And hearing it played by Baz—and sung!—was… otherworldly.

Baz’s voice was raspy and deep, which kind of contradicted another adjective that came to Simon’s head: Sweet.

After the concert, the band reunited with the rest and Simon didn’t know why he did it but he went to Baz and hugged him. Baz stiffened under his touch but Simon felt his cold hands grazing his back.

For the record, if Baz asked, he’d hugged him to keep the appearances.

“That was amazing,” Simon said, pulling away. “Honestly, wow.”

They stayed for a while before everyone went separate ways.

xxx

Simon didn’t remember how he’d got to his bed.

The last thing he remembered was dozing off in Baz’s car. He was so tired.

He decided it didn’t matter, and went to the kitchen to prepare himself breakfast. It was already midday, but it was also Sunday and that gave him the liberty to follow his own meal timetable, which was: Breakfast at noon, lunch sometime in the afternoon, dinner at 10ish, all kinds of snacks in-between.

Simon stepped into the kitchen, almost missing Davy eating spaghetti on the small table.

“Simon,” he said with his mouth full. “Sorry, I finished all the pasta. I think there’s a couple of eggs or something in the fridge.”

“Don’t worry,” said Simon, even though he knew Davy didn’t really worry. “I’ll go buy something later.”

“Good, great,” said his father. “We need after-shave, too. Can you buy it?”

By we Davy meant I, because Simon didn’t even grow a beard yet. “Sure,” he said, and went to prepare himself a couple of toasts.

Simon took the butter from the fridge and put it on the table while the toasts were making. Davy added his empty plate to the pile of dirty dishes filling the sink and resumed reading his newspaper with a cup of coffee. Simon guessed he’d have to clean that later.

Almost overlapped, two thoughts—memories, rather—flashed through Simon’s mind. One: Baz’s face when he saw the dirty dishes pile. Two: Baz carrying him to his room.

Like, in his arms.

Just as Simon was absorbed by this new mental image, the bread popped up out of the toaster, making Simon step back. And his heart almost explode.

Davy seemed to notice Simon’s distress. “Are you alright, Simon?” he asked, without looking up from his newspaper.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Simon replied, recovering from the heart attack. Simon couldn’t see his own face but, judging from the surge of heat rushing through his cheeks, he was sure he could be easily mistaken with a tomato.

“How’s your girlfriend, Amanda?” his father asked.

“Agatha is fine.” Simon pondered what situation would piss Davy off most, given the improbable event that he was genuinely interested. He went with the truth. “We broke up.”

“Good, good.”

“I’m going out with Baz.”

“That’s great, Simon,” his father said, finishing his coffee.

“Basilton Pitch, you know?” Simon insisted.

“I have to go, Simon,” Davy said, standing up. “You tell me about your little quarrel with the Pitch boy later, okay?” He gave Simon a pat on the shoulder and left.

“Yeah…”

Simon took his lunch and brought it to his room.

Out of the gazillion things he wanted to ask Baz about the previous night—and the jail issue—he opted for just sending him a thank-you text. He typed:

thx for carrying me to my room

Simon dedicated the whole afternoon to some of his favourite activities: Drawing and listening to music. At the same time he realised what he was drawing—Baz and the band—a rather disturbing question plagued Simon’s mind. He grabbed his phone again and sent him:

WAIT did u undress me?

But Baz, who Simon was convinced had made a deal with Satan to make Simon’s life a living hell, didn’t reply until late in the night. All he said was:

You are welcome

[Chapter 4]

Rest In Peace Chester Bennington. You left so many reasons to be missed…♡

#snowbaz #carry on fanfiction #snowbaz fic #carry on fic #famous last words #flw3 #fake boyfriends #adios fellas #wanna update in two weeks

[hadanelith]

Just got back from finally seeing TLJ... I don't think I've been this disappointed in a Star Wars movie since Phantom Menace. This movie was *awful*, both as a Star Wars movie and just as a film.

Massive, total spoilers below the cut.

The opening sequence was bad. While the whole phone call thing was a decently funny bit, it went on about 2 exchanges too long. The space battle that followed was insultingly stupid, between the idea that this Dreadnaught has no effective anti-starfighter defenses and the ludicrous design of the bombers with *gravity bombs*. This sequence was effectively a straight up WWII bombing run, and it just didn't make any sense. Rey's badgering of Luke went on too long, and while it kind of aped the kung fu movie 'seek out the master, he refuses to train you but he's actually testing you/teaching you the whole time he's refusing' thing, it didn't pan out in the end at all, so it felt completely wasted. The rebel fleet escaping to deep space was fine. The FO tracking them was fine. The idea that they would just follow along, shooting at them ineffectively for hours and hours, is just insane. I was specifically irritated that they remembered that ships have shields NOW, but they totally didn't during the opening battle or the starfighter fight that started the chase. Are they going with the idea that starfighters ignore shields for some bullshit reason? If so, why would they not send in a massive starfighter wave to end the battle? The FO had 6+ Star Destroyers plus the Super Star Destroyer - they should have had at least three or four hundred TIEs, and since TIEs blew out the bridge and space Leia, they must be capable of otherwise hurting the ships. This whole ticking clock siege setup was dumb, and the follow on effects were bad too. Spacing Leia felt like 'oh, so that's how they're gonna fix it', and then they didn't. Instead they have her explicitly use the Force, which, okay, fine, but what the hell? I guess they just wanted her out of the way for a while, and couldn't think of a better way? Finn trying to cut and run? Fine. Rose catching him? Fine. Them turning around and hatching a plan to save the fleet? No. The dialogue was bizarre during this bit, and the instant turn-around from anger to camaraderie felt very forced. Poe going with it? Eh, it fits. The casino planet was one sequence that went on exactly as long as was reasonable, without drastically overstaying its welcome. It was a bit on the ham handed side, mind you, but it didn't drag on, the action half was fun, and no part of it felt too out of left field. Getting back to the fleet, Poe's little mutiny could have been completely prevented just by telling everyone the plan. Not doing so was ludicrous. Then there's the Holdo maneuver. Why the HELL did she wait that long? If the whole plan was a noble sacrifice, why wait until half the damn shuttles got blown up to get started? Just do it straight off! It also opens a brand new can of worms. Someone finally realized that a sufficiently fast drive system is also a powerful weapon. Great. Now ramming things at FTL is a thing that you can reasonably do in Star Wars. That's...a solution that no one EVER considered for the Death Stars? Especially since according to TFA, hyperdrive bypasses shields? The Rebels could have just rammed a Mon Cal cruiser straight into Death Star II, ignored the planetary shield, and won with only materiel losses and no personnel! This is a TERRIBLE precedent to set! Finn, Rose, and the slicer on the SSD: eh? BB-8 as a trash can was cute, the evil BB-8 was just merchandising, the shot of the iron descending was actually a fun shot, cinematigraphically. Getting caught, the slicer selling them out, and almost getting executed? Eh. Finn and Phasma fighting? WHY? Why bring back Phasma after they threw her in a trash compactor, just to kill her off anyway in a fight that means nothing and goes nowhere? Not-Hoth: I really liked the visuals. I liked the salt-foxes (but that's mostly just me being a sucker for foxes). But setting up for Battle of Hoth version 2 was really goofy. Why was the big gun ('based on Death Star tech', doesn't look at all like Death Star anything...)TOWED? Why did they tow it with mono-purpose walkers (that were based on Strandbeests, which is cool, but pointless)? Why the FUCK did Rose stop Finn from making HIS heroic sacrifice? I'm sorry, her reasoning is bullshit, and then they didn't even have her die!

Rewinding to Rey: Luke is *completely* out of character. His refusing is bullshit, his lessons are bullshit, his reasoning is bullshit, and the whole thing is character assassination of the highest order. Rey, meanwhile, is stuck with a whiny emo in her head, the poor girl. Those conversations drag on for way too long, and continue to include Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron, so I'm not a fan. The library tree was some hilarious bullshit - up until this point, only Han has called the Jedi a 'religion', so having Luke suddenly talking about the 'holy texts' was way weird. Ditto the idea that they've been on this tiny island on some planet no one's heard of, and not, say, in the JEDI TEMPLE. The FUCK? The whole 'infinity mirror' well of the Dark Side thing was just weird. I liked the effect, I liked the whole bit with Rey trying to figure out what the deal was...but there was NO PAYOFF. I thought they were going to go with some kinda 'many possible futures' thing or something, but for it all to come to exactly NOTHING was really weird. The back and forth about the day Ben Solo became Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron felt like more character assassination of Luke. Also irritating - they keep mentioning other students, but they never bother to show them at all. Then Rey steals the books, and leaves. Joy. Luke's whole conversation with Ghost!Yoda was bizarre. I appreciate that they dug out the old puppet, but why? Yoda was inscrutable, Luke was inscrutable, a Force Ghost had physical effect on the world, which was new and unnecessary, and the whole thing felt way out of place. Rey ends up on the SSD with Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron, and they go talk to Mutant McGrossFace, who is a condescending dickhead, but not as good a condescending dickhead as Palps, so...meh. Special shoutout to Rey summoning the lightsaber and Mutant McGrossFace clobbering her in the head with it. The way Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron kills him was pretty sweet; the big fight sequence was kinda sweet, if gratuitous; the whole 'battle of wills staring contest while doing aggressive jazz hands at each other' thing went on for FOREVER. sigh. Rey...escapes. Off screen. Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron becomes new 'Supreme Leader'. I notice that even his subordinates don't really believe in him very much. Oh, additional shoutout to the last kill in the fight with the red guard guys - that was something people have been thinking was a good idea for a long time, so it was fun to see.

Rewinding again: Chewbacca is in this movie. His little scene with the Porgs was...two shots too long, and completely pointless. And that is basically the sum total of his involvement in this movie.

Right, big finale! Luke shows up on not-Hoth, taunts Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron into fighting him, doesn't actually fight, turns out he isn't really there. This is a major Force Illusion, and it's actually kind of neat, even if it kills him in the end. Rey and Chewie draw off the TIEs in the Falcon in a fun little flight sequence through some salt crystal caves, which is fine. Porgs show up here as comic relief, which is...acceptable, I guess? They don't get in the way, which is nice. The Resistance escapes with the help of the salt foxes, Rey does some pretty significant TK, and they all escape. Luke dies, Rose is comatose, and we end by flying away in the Falcon. Feels like the end of TFA, and not in a great way. The last shot was purely setup, and it felt like some Marvel-style foreshadowing stuff. I do not approve.

Acting:

Decent acting by most people that got to do stuff. Massively hamstrung by the script. I find it telling that Mark Hamill has said (not the exact quote, but the gist) 'I disagree with everything you're doing to Luke, but I'll go do my job as an actor'. Guess it's a good thing they killed him off. But they didn't kill Leia, even when they had an easy way to do so. How the hell are they gonna fix that come the next movie? Kill her off screen? Major shoutouts to Adam Driver and Domhnall Gleeson - they managed to be thoroughly unlikeable villains, turning in convincing performances despite the script. Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron is exactly that, which appears intentional, so that was good acting. Hux was conceptually the worst sort of elitist British Imperialist, and he was exactly that. Apparently Gleeson did a LOT of research on how to portray the role convincingly, and it shows. Boyega does a decent job as Finn, but he has to fight with characterization as someone who is way more naive than the actor. Oscar Isaac turns in a good performance as Poe, despite getting handed the idiot ball by the script. Carrie does fine as Leia, but she doesn't actually get to do much in the movie. As her last hurrah, it's pretty muted. Daisy Ridley does alright with what she has - but she has to play a girl who has Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron in her head AND Massive Dick Alternate Universe Luke Skywalker being a dick to her face. Her perseverance is kind of admirable. They didn't get Peter Mayhew as Chewie. Maybe that's why he's barely in the movie. Andy Serkis is fine as Snoke. He's not as good at being evil as Ian McDiarmid, but what can you do? Laura Dern as Admiral Holdo...she's written as a bitch, she pulls it off just fine. My complaint is her script, not the acting. Kelly Marie Tran as Rose is...fine, I guess? Again, I mostly hate the script, not the actress.

The nitpicks: Do shields work, or not? Make up your minds! Capital ships have never needed fuel before. This is a limitation that they have added for this movie. I wish they hadn't. Gravity doesn't work like that, space bomber friends. How the hell do they *hear* the Star Destroyers arriving on the planet's surface at the beginning? During Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron's big 'fight' with Luke, they couldn't figure out which way he was holding his lightsaber, shot to shot. Porgs nesting in the Falcon's wiring? And Chewie doesn't say or do *anything*? Really? Given the size of the island, what the hell is up with the 'caretaker' aliens? Also, how the hell do they not exist for apparent DAYS, and then they have just always been there? Why the hell do they show us Luke's X-Wing, and then never do the 'lift it from the sea' shot? Or do ANYTHING with it at all? Why is the Mon Cal Cruiser's hanger bay empty for like 150 meters while Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron is flying through it, with a handful of fighters right at the back end? Why in the world don't the FO use all the TIE Fighters they obviously have? Actually, why is the only real dogfight the terrible bomber escort bit at the beginning? This is Star Wars, dammit, X-Wings dogfighting with TIE Fighters is something that should happen a lot. Why are the cops on the casino planet wearing samurai helmets? Why didn't Holdo bother to just TELL Poe (and everyone else, for that matter) the plan? Why did Holdo wait until half the shuttles were gone, just watching, before her (clearly planned) suicide run? Actually, why not evac the medical frigate BEFORE it runs out of fuel, and use THAT to ram? Why does no one but evil!BB-8 question the moving, beeping trashcan? Why in the FUCK does the entire 'infinity mirror' sequence come to literally NOTHING? There's probably more, but those are the ones that came to mind.

Final thoughts: Everything that has anything to do with the Force in this movie is basically garbage (except Snoke whacking Rey with the lightsaber, that was hilarious). The characters all grab the idiot ball, nobody (except Finn and Rose) bother to tell anyone else what they're about to do, and Luke just straight up gets fucked as a character. The space battles are unsatisfying...actually, they're mostly just insulting to your intelligence. Rian Johnson just doesn't GET Star Wars. What it's about, why we watch it, what people like about it.

This film is structurally a mess and thematically a disaster. I rate it way worse than TFA, worse than Episodes II and III. I honestly can't decide if I dislike this more than the Phantom Menace. If you're a Star Wars fan, this movie doesn't want you to like it, and if you're not...then why would you start with Episode EIGHT?

#Star Wars #Star Wars spoilers #The Last Jedi #The Last Jedi spoilers

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 51. The Move III. Home

What a month. December 2019 started in Sydney, but in just four weeks, took me through New York (Chels was in Hawaii), Dallas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Seattle, and finally London.

Somehow this was our LEAST busy holiday over the past three years, but it flew by nonetheless.

The month began with an international move... obviously challenging, and further complicated by EY’s mobility team. Movers, cleaners, and interested Gumtree buyers cycled through the house, while Chelsay and I balanced enjoying our final days in Manly with UK visa applications.

Eventually our Aussie apartment was empty. Just four massive bags remained - they held our only belongings until our shipment arrives in London sometime in April. Those four bags would be heading in opposite directions for the next 10 days though: Chelsay’s followed her to Hawaii, while mine were heading to New York.

I’m extremely jealous of Chelsay’s trip to the North Shore. Not only did she get to hang with Sumner, Chris, Miles, and Orly, but she enjoyed a few post-Sydney surfs, Island vibes, and beautiful weather.

Meanwhile, I had intense work meetings in New York, which required staying an extra few days for the biggest presentation I’ve given to-date. I was at least able to stroll around Manhattan between meetings, with highlights including Gramercy Park, East Village, Greenwich Village, and snow in Times Square.

Our Christmas Break really began once Chelsay and I finally made it to Dallas, though we were only home for one day before embarking on a family road trip.

Chelsay and I have traveled to around 50 countries, yet there are so many places we haven’t explored in our own backyard, including the Deep South. With plenty of time in the US this December, we decided to take a short road trip through Louisiana and Mississippi with Jeff, Liv, Matt, and Emily.

Some highlights:

A foggy visit to Evergreen Plantation. Although the plantation was a primary filming site for fictional Django Unchained, its slave past was very real. Despite our tour guide’s best efforts to portray a “different narrative”, the slaves’ conditions were pretty clear... “Remember: snakes, gators, mosquitoes, yellow fever.”

Jambalaya, Beignets, and Hurricanes in New Orleans’ French Quarter, paired with our over-the-top Southern accents (“There’s been a muwduh!”)

Strolling Barataria Preserve, a swampy bayou coated in Spanish moss... but with zero bathrooms along the trail. What happened in the bayou stays in the bayou. 

Touring antebellum homes in charming Natchez, though the biggest highlight was Jeff trying to understand how their 1980′s occupants got cable. 

Friendly and entertaining strangers throughout the entire trip. Zippy the gas station attendant (“Energy drink, for the guy that’s gotta push the car”), our Uber driver Mahogany (“Reroute me”), the Mississippi McDonalds cashier (“Y’all wan’ dat wit pe-can sauce!?”), and a New Orleans man training his pet raccoon.

The road trip was great siblings trip - no doubt one that we’ll laugh about for a long time. But after covering Sydney, New York, Louisiana, and Mississippi in just two weeks, it was time to settle down for a bit.

Luckily we had almost a month to relax: 23 days before our one-way flight to London, split between Dallas and Seattle. I hardly worked and Chelsay was already well into sabbatical-mode, which meant we had zero responsibility while home... It was a return to childhood.

Some highlights:

These aren’t in any order, except for this first one: Matt’s quizzes. It’s become a Kern tradition that Matt puts together ~15 ten question quizzes. They’re all creative categories, with our annual favorite being “Synonym song title & band”. Matt’s past four annual quizzes were all excellent, but this Christmas’ installment, Kern Family Quizzes 5: The Moscow Incident, was by far the most impressive. It included an audio/visual component, and categories ranging from “Name this platinum song being played on recorder” and “Name the two actors’ whose faces I’ve merged into one”. Matt could make millions if he sold these games.

Speaking of games, the Kern’s and Wright’s combined to complete four escape rooms. Perfect 4/4. Grandma Helen calls them “Crazy rooms”, which is absolutely understandable after a T-Rex roared at us for 20 minutes in one of our Seattle escape rooms.

Continuing in the friendly competition category, the Kern’s love bocce... especially bocce with a wrinkle: wild bocc’ (aka free-range bocce). Most bocce is played in a walled rectangular arena. Not for the Kern’s though. We drive to the Trophy Club Park and set up our “course” through trees, along hills, across sidewalks, and between the small children panicking as we hurl 3 lb balls towards them. Like a windmill in putt-putt, these obstacles make the game more challenging, especially the scared children. Plus we all just like getting outside.

One last friendly competition: giant jenga at Jeff & Liv’s new house. Their “starter” home is so big that they have an entire room for giant jenga... and we needed the space. This genuinely could’ve been a Guinness record for longest game. For at least an hour -- every single turn -- we were sure the tower JUST HAD to fall.

The next four bullets are all cowboy related. Chelsay and I have been together for 10 years, and every time we go to Dallas, she insists on visiting a dude ranch. We’ve never had enough time... until this Christmas. Chelsay finally got her wish when we drove an hour outside Fort Worth to Beaumont Ranch. This day trip could’ve had its own post, but I’ll have to summarize in a few short stories.

First, the main event was a cattle drive on horseback. Our instructor, a true Texan cowgirl, led us into the 800-acre plains in search of rogue longhorns. Chelsay was the first to come across wayward cattle and, despite her metropolitan upbringing, instinctively started yelling in an extremely southern accent: “Go on, git! Heeyah!” Our Texan instructor had to be insulted.

Second story: Matt is very good at lassoing. I was not. This video pretty much tells the story.

Last story from our cowboy day. The ranch had its own replica western town, so Chelsay had the idea to make a “duel” video. We talked about the dialogue for under 10 seconds, but the result was pure gold. Oscar worthy (at least better than The Irishman). You might think that we added the music afterwards to sync with our actions... Nope, that was just my mom holding her phone close to Chelsay’s camera. That should at least be up for Best Sound Editing.

My parents, Chelsay, and I fell into a nightly routine of Dark from Netflix Germany. Phenomenal show, despite watching an English-dubbed version. We finished two seasons in under 10 days.

Obviously we hit all the favorite food spots, led by Feedstore, Mi Cocina, Anamias, Christinas, Costa Vida. We also added a new favorite: HG Supply and their tasty impossible whopper bowl with quinoa and chili. 

On the topic of food, I must have eaten 100 cookies while home. We had the traditional Kern Christmas cookie bake-off (A+ humor, but C+ presentation), but Chelsay also picked up a baking addiction. It was 11 pm and we’d all be heading to bed, but Chelsay was still laser focused and meticulously decorating her cookies. Her efforts showed though: A+ flavor, and A+++ presentation. 

Next up was our return to Seattle. On Chelsay and I’s first full day, we decided to go on a long hike. We actually didn’t hike much when lived in Seattle, which we now realize was dumb. I definitely took the Northwest’s landscape for granted — every time we visit, I’m blown away by the sky-scraping evergreens, fresh scent, crisp air, and looming mountain ranges that surround the city. Anyway, we’ve been trying to catch up on our hiking whenever we visit, and the closest trail to the Wright’s house is Mt. Si, a semi-challenging 8-mile hike. It’s the medium-well steak of hikes. Danny, Chelsay, and I endured a sweaty couple hours -- just to give you an idea of the hike’s height, the peak was snow-capped, but the views made the steep ascent worthwhile. 

On the same ‘missed PNW opportunities’ line: when I lived in Seattle, I ever took advantage of the many nearby mountain villages, especially the Bavarian-themed Leavenworth. Tucked in the Cascade Mountains, you would never believe Leavenworth is just two hours from bustling Pike Place. Gothic-lettered storefronts line the half-timbered town’s main street: Munchen Haus, the Sausage Garten, Ludwig’s, and Starbucks (it’s still America after all). Danny, June, Chelsay, and I enjoyed a quiet walk on Blackbird Island, threw snowballs for target practice, and warmed up with hot cider and big (BIG) game of Uno. We also built up our shaka inventory with our Leavenworth friends Alex & Charlie.

It's also worth mentioning that I went to a Hawks game with Hanan. It was a rivalry game and the stakes couldn't be higher: SEA vs SF. Sunday Night Football. Last game of the 2019 regular season, and the winner took the NFC West. The 49ers went up 16-0, but the Hawks stormed back and had the ball with a chance to win on the last play. Russell Wilson hit Jacob Hollister close to the goal line, but a 49er tackled him quickly. Hollister reached for the goal line as he fell, but came up an inch short of a game-winning touchdown. Even though the Hawks lost, it was still a great time.

Speaking of great times, we hosted New Year’s Eve at the Wright’s house in Woodinville. What an incredible night. Midnight seems to get later and later every year, but Chelsay and I stayed up until 3 am catching up with Devon & Babs, Martiin @ Michelle, and Austin & Kels. Danny, June, and Chels were such amazing hosts - I kept telling them my friends didn’t deserve their hospitality.

We may have been in the US for five weeks, but it felt like only five days. Although it fly by, these stories and pictures are proof that our time was well spent. 

And even though we were boarding a one-way flight to London for the next few years, there’s no question where our true home will always be. 

[juniperandmagpie]

Zion National Park

For Bobby's birthday this year, we made the trek out to Zion National Park to celebrate inside the deep canyon walls with plenty of extreme hiking, breath taking views, and the awe-inspiring beauty of nature.

We were cramming a lot in to one weekend, so in order to get to Zion as quickly as possible, we left straight from work and split up the drive time with an obligatory pit stop in Las Vegas (about 6 hours from San Diego and less than 2 hours from the park). Although Vegas was a sinfully good time, we lost track of time (and money - as Vegas has the tendency to make one do) and made the mistake of accidentally staying up until the sun rose at 5am. We took a nap, reluctantly got our of bed at 8am, and then finished our drive to Zion.

We originally intended to stay at the South Campground right inside the park because of it's proximity to the bike trails, but because it was Memorial Day weekend, that site was already booked up by 8am (reservations aren't accepted. The Watchman Campground right near by does accept reservations, but you must book it out 6 months in advanced). We were cranky and angry with ourselves for our Vegas shenanigans causing us to miss out on the campground, but since we arrived at the park on a Thursday morning (instead of the start of the Memorial Day weekend on Friday,) we were able to snag an even better campground on the East side of the park: Hi-Road Campground (formerly know as Zion National Park RV and Campground).

Our site outside the park at Hi-Road Campground

Although you have to drive through the canyon for 20 minutes to get in and out of the park from this campground, the drive is beautiful, and the site itself is much more secluded. We opted for a primitive site nestled fittingly beneath a juniper tree. The facility was well maintained, with hot showers, and access to laundry on-site, and a well-stocked convenience and gift shop across the street (where you actually buy your site pass from). In the end, I was thankful we ended up at that campsite, because the sites inside the actual park were very crowded with absolutely zero privacy from both other campers and from park goers (we prefer our solitude).

After we were settled in to our site, we ventured to the Canyon Overlook Trail on the East side of the park to get a taste of what Zion had to offer. This was a short and easy 1 mile round trip trail. There is a tiny bit of elevation gain, and it ends with a beautiful view overlooking the east side of the park.

Canyon Overlook Trail

We woke up early the next morning and headed for the most famous hike at Zion National Park: Angel's Landing. This summit towers over the land with a complete panoramic view of the park. It was once said the point was so high that only angels could land there, but luckily for us mere mortals, there are now chains to help pull you up the steep rock ways and steady you so as to not fall off either side of the 1,500 foot drop offs.

The 5 mile hike took about 5 hours to complete. The trail starts with The Wiggles, a 2 mile set of repetitive switch backs that take about an hour to complete. This trail felt very strenuous until we reached the cool Refrigerator Canyon where we could take a "break" from the steep trail and the hot sun.

The Wiggles up to Angels Landing

From there, we reached the "point of no return" where one must decide that the views are "good enough" or can continue upon the most strenuous .5 mile trek up Angel's Landing. We obviously powered on.

The view right before the last trek

The point of no return before heading up Angels Landing

Although the final portion of the hike to the summit is only a quarter of the distance as The Wiggles, it takes just as long, if not longer to get up. The trail is very steep and narrow, and there are 1,500 foot drop offs on either side. You must climb on all fours on the ascent and brace yourself on the trail chains to climb through the rocky terrain. 6 people have actually died on this trail, but the risk is half the fun, and the views are a total pay-off. Read our in-depth Angel's Landing trail tips here.

The final bit right up those “stairs”

Little ants headed up the steep, narrow trail

Almost there

The view at the top is completely magical. It is incredible to look down and realize you made that entire 1,500 foot climb from the bottom of the canyon to the top of the peak! A true feeling of accomplishment washed over us (in addition to a feeling of sore muscles, buns of steel, and blister ridden feet). I'd love to say it was easy to get down once we reached the summit, but because of how steep the trail is, it was actually just as hard, and potentially more dangerous, to descend.

The Views!

We bathed our blistered feet in the river at the bottom, and then headed over to Zion Lodge to relax with a couple beers and look up at the peak to revel in our accomplishments. With a rush of adrenaline and a desire to waste no time during our short stint in the park, we decided to hike over to Emerald Pools: a 3 mile round trip with 3 levels of pools dropping in to one another. Although it doesn't seem possible, more people have actually died on this trail (7 to be exact) than on Angel's Landing.

Emerald Pools

Exhausted, we hopped on our bikes and rode back via the Pa'Rus bike trail to our parking spot at the entrance to the park. Luckily the trail back was completely downhill and we flew through the canyon with the breeze sweeping across our faces.

Pa’Rus Bike Trail back to Camp

For our final day at Zion, we decided to hike The Narrows: the trail in which you are constantly submerged in the Virgin River as it bends through the most narrow parts of Zion Canyon. After completing a feat like Angel's Landing, any other trail seemed like it would be easy as pie. The Narrows was not.

The entrance to The Narrows

This trail does not test your fear of heights, or your climbing skills as Angel's Landing did, but instead, your power of mind over freezing water temperatures! One foot in and you toes and legs go completely numb! We rushed the distance to the nearest portion of dry land. The frigid waters were unbearable, but we wanted to perservere. So we kept on at that same pace - freeze, rush to dry land, freeze again. After about 3 or 4 times of rushing the waters, the numbness really does take over and you can venture on (we went about 5 miles deep, but the trail can be up to 16 miles round trip).

Freezing, but smiling

I wish we were more prepared for how cold the water really was. If you are thinking about venturing in to The Narrows, I highly suggest you read our trail tips here beforehand!

We changed out of our soaked shoes (fresh socks never felt so good) and we headed back to our bikes for our final epic bike ride through the canyon.

Traveller's tip: biking really is the best way to get around the park. No cars are allowed in the canyon, walking takes way too long, and the shuttles are dank and crowded. It is relatively small compared to other National Parks, so you could actually see the whole park via bike if you choose. The bike trails steadily incline the entire time in to the park, but the ride home is all down hill and completely glorious! Plus you can park anywhere knowing that you can easily bike to your spot instead of having to dread walking anymore than you already have on the trails. (Parking during high peak seasons is a real pain!)

We said goodbye to the gorgeous canyon, grabbed celebratory birthday blizzards from DQ, and began the 8 hour car ride back to San Diego. Miraculously, Bobby made it to his extremely physical job for the County Parks the next day (I don't know how he did it. I luckily was able to rest - and rest I did).

We hope you enjoy Zion as much as we did Wild Ones! Be careful out there!

#zion np #zion #zion national park #NPS #national park #hike #hiker #hiking #camping #camp #outdoors #angels landing #the narrows

[mypkshop-blog]

Top 8 Car GPS Product of 2019 in Cheap Price

Our editors autonomously research, test, and suggest the best items; you can study our audit procedure here. We may get commissions on buys produced using our picked connections.

The appearance of route applications may make a devoted GPS framework feel like needless excess. Be that as it may, that is simply because you don't have the foggiest idea about the present GPS frameworks. Current gadgets can do much more than basically offer turn-by-turn headings. They use constant traffic information to help characterize the most immediate course, find corner stores and fix shops, take real run cam video to enable you to accumulate proof if there should arise an occurrence of a mishap, and let you wander the tough rough terrain environs that live just past the asphalt—and afterward let you share your adventure by means of your favored internet based life. Presently GPS's can be voice-told, enabling you to add something to your Amazon list when you recollect that you're out of paper towels, caution you of speed traps and up and coming way out rates, or download solid maps to urban areas all through the world. Here, our preferred GPS frameworks available at this point.

Top 8  Car GPS Accessories

Best Overall: Garmin Drive Smart 61

In case you're searching for the most perfectly awesome GPS framework that consolidates usability and solid outcomes, you won't do any superior to the Garmin DriveSmart 61. The unit promptly stands apart with a 6.95-inch capacitive touch show. Bigger than most cell phone shows, the edge-to-edge show is clear and conveys route data initially. With custom waypoints, for example, home or office, Garmin additionally includes a large number of focal points. Finding the closest corner store, Starbucks, or air terminal is as simple as a couple of catch presses.

Indeed, even with the majority of its committed GPS includes, the DriveSmart is substantially more than only a GPS unit. Bluetooth similarity enables it to interface legitimately to your cell phone. From that point, the Garmin can encourage sans hands calls and content warnings just as schedule updates for your next arrangement. It likewise has a voice-initiated route include so you can reveal to it your next goal without composing in any locations.

Best Budget: TomTom VIA 1425M

A 4.3-inch touchscreen makes it simple to pursue headings on the TomTom VIA 1425M—or to advise the framework where you need to pass by basically tapping the ideal goal. TomTom uses propelled path direction to enable you to move into the correct situation for ways out and crossing points by featuring the ideal course, with a simple to-gather reversible dashboard mount. It keeps running for one hour for every charge, with both USB and vehicle charger alternatives, just as a smaller scale SD card space in the event that you need to enhance the locally available 8MB interior memory. Out of the crate, you get maps for the United States, Mexico, and Canada, with free updates for the life of the route gadget, and the verbally expressed guidelines can be designed to in excess of 30 unique dialects.

Best Hands-Free: Garmin Speak Plus

The Speak Plus is the thing that you'd get in the event that you wedded your preferred GPS with one of the business' best advanced individual aides. This gadget utilizes Amazon Alexa as its center AI, enabling you to play music from Amazon Music, Pandora, IHeartRadio, and different applications—and you can likewise control your brilliant gadgets at home, get some information about the climate, or request up pretty much anything. Garmin's excellent heritage with GPS tech handles the route, including turn-by-turn discernible bearings (with screen prompts) that you can trigger just by pinging Alexa to ask Garmin to get you home, to work, or to the Empire State Building.

An implicit run cam includes a layer of solace in the improbable occasion that you're in a mishap, alongside driver help highlights to ward off those odds, including forward crash and path flight alerts. The GPS likewise works with Bluetooth-empower gadgets for sans hands calls and incorporates with your vehicle stereo remotely or by means of a standard AUX link.

Best for Off-Road Adventures: Magellan TR5 Trail and Street GPS

On the off chance that adhering to principle streets isn't your thing, at that point you need the Magellan TR5 trail and road GPS on your next rough terrain experience. With more than 115,000 preloaded trail courses, there's something here for four-wheel driving, ATVs, and snowmobiles. Magellan additionally includes more than 6.6 million points of intrigue. Finding a POI or setting up is simple utilizing the TR5's five-inch touchscreen show. The unit itself is perfect for rough terrain vehicles since it is stun, residue, and water safe.

It won't come as any astonishment to past GPS clients that the TR5 is pressed with sound and visual route help. In case you're caught up with keeping your eyes on the trail, the sound will keep you securely on track. If you have to make a snappy return home, hit the Backtrack catch and it returns you to the underlying beginning stage. Past route, the unit can likewise synchronize to a cell phone through Bluetooth for approaching call notices just as content and schedule alarms.

Best for International Travel: TomTom Go 520

Most GPS units accompany pre-stacked maps of North America, however the TomTom Go 520 has an increasingly worldwide perspective and accompanies maps of the whole world pre-stacked. The best part is that with worked in W-iFi availability, the gadget will inform you at whatever point new updates are accessible, so you can refresh without a PC. The gadget likewise speaks with your cell phone; it can peruse out instant messages upon solicitation, or discover contacts and dial for without hands calling. You can likewise trigger Siri and Google Now with the tap of a catch on the gadget.

Maps update for the lifetime of the gadget, and it utilizes continuous traffic information to plot out your ideal course. At the point when once more from investigating the world, the Go 520 can likewise get familiar with your driving propensities to anticipate when and where you most drive to help cut out your optimal course. The main (potential) disadvantage: the five-inch screen isn't as monstrous as a portion of the others on this rundown, however it's still bounty huge, particularly in case you're driving an Euro smaller than expected games vehicle.

Best for Motorcycles: Garmin zumo 396 LMT-S

Best GPS gadgets designed for helping motorcyclists face a pile of contemplations that vehicle inviting gadgets don't, and the zumo 396 LMT-S has every one of those factors secured. The rough, glove-accommodating 4.3-inch gadget opposes harm from fuel vapors, UV beams, and brutal climate, and stays simple to peruse in splendid daylight. Likewise with most gadgets, you additionally get constant traffic notice and sans hands calling by means of Bluetooth, and you can control your music and playlists from the GPS screen.

Grasping the fun idea of motorcycling, the gadget incorporates a pick your-own-experience style Adventurous Routing route include that gives you a chance to adjust the course by inclining toward bends and slopes, and staying away from the dull automaton of real expressways. For gathering rides, you can dial your favored course and offer it by means of GPX documents with individual riders, and when you adjust the gadget to a cell phone, you can share your whereabouts continuously. Cautions incorporate traffic and climate refreshes just as speed and red-light camera warning just as when sharp turns are drawing nearer. The gadget uses an implicit excursion PC that tracks each significant detail on your bicycle, including gas, air channels, brake cushions, and liquids—and will reveal to you when to stop for fuel by giving choices to close by service stations. The main thing the zumo 396 doesn't do is drive your bicycle — however you have that part secured.

Best for RVs: Magellan Roadmate RV9365T-LMB

The open street conveys an entire host of perils when you're driving a major apparatus of a RV or hauling your camper or rec vehicle behind you on a trailer. No difficult maneuvers, it would be ideal if you and unquestionably no cobblestones. However, different components are similarly imperative to abstain from, including lanes that confine U-turns or are dodgy and unpaved. The Roadmate RV9365T-LMB gives you a chance to program your vehicle's measurements into the gadget, alongside other driver inclinations, and after that plots a course that takes into account those contemplations.

The Magellan Roadmate additionally comes pre-stacked with a Good Sam RV Travel Guide and Campground Directory (counting information on each site like whether they have Wi-Fi or are pet-accommodating), alongside a rundown of RV Sani-Dump Station Locations. The 7-inch touchscreen alters for day or late evening survey, and works with constant traffic updates to avoid delays, and incorporates other route tips like close by service stations, traffic cam alarms, path help direction, and a customized top picks menu. Guide updates are useful for the life of the gadget, and it tracks your speed just as far as possible.

Best Dash Cam GPS: Garmin Dash Cam 65W

Get into one dubious mishap and you'll comprehend the verifiable estimation of dependable proof to help bolster your side of the story. While the Dash Cam 65W is GPS-empowered, it's not centered around route. Rather, this gadget gives you a chance to catch 1080p-goals video film with 180-degree inclusion through voice order. It'll likewise naturally spare film on effect because of GPS-empowered Incident Detection, which catches both the when and the where of what happened to enhance the video.

The Garmin Dash cam additionally conveys helpful route alarms like forward-crash and path flight alerts and notices on red-light and speed cameras. It's not about awful news, however; the gadget offers fun approaches to catch the features of an outstanding excursion. Essentially direction the gadget to snap a picture, record video or sound, or initiate the Travelapse include, which gathers long stretches of crashing into a minutes-in length stream of the excursion features. Normally, it matches up with your cell phone because of inherent Wi-Fi, so you can remotely add recordings to your gadget in the wake of downloading the VIRB Mobile application, making it simple to impart film to companions, family, insurance agencies, and lawful specialists.

Our Process

Our essayists went through 5 hours investigating the most well known GPS frameworks available. Prior to making their last proposals, they thought about 12 unique GPS frameworks, screened alternatives from 5 distinct brands and producers, read in excess of 10 client audits (both positive and negative), and tried 1 of the GPS frameworks themselves. The majority of this examination means suggestions you can trust.