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spenciegoob · 3 years

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Who Needs Luck?

A/N: hi! I solely wrote this because of my 3 recent visits to NY (no, I sadly did not meet mgg)... plus i’ve been going there my whole life.. this is becoming the longest authors note, but as i’m writing I just want to say the people who work at food trucks in nyc are the nicest people ever, ask them about their day (AND TIP OMG PLS)

Summary: Reader invites Spencer to go to New York City with her where he finally sees the beauty right in front of him.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Category: Fluff!

Content Warnings: reader can’t drive very well (I apologize if this is a callout post), slight road rage, language

Masterlist

Word Count: 2.4K

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I never considered myself a lucky man. Life had proven time and time again that no matter how many four leaf clovers I set out to search for, how many pennies on the ground faced heads up I stumbled across, luck was never on my side. I’ve learned to live with it, accepted my fate as the world’s smartest punching bag long before I was even in college.

But then I met her, and as cheesy as it sounds, I didn’t need luck that morning.

The second I woke up, the universe seemed to have it out for me specifically. I swung my legs over my bed, and in my half asleep daze stepped on my glasses, successfully breaking them. Unable to see on my short trip to the bathroom, I stubbed my toe… twice. Once I finally finished my morning routine more methodically, I walked out of my apartment only to bump into a stranger, sending the coffee she was holding all the both of us.

I had tried to apologize so many times, cutting my words short when they didn’t feel right. I had gotten through a series of “I’m, uh, oh, I, you,” before her smile interrupted my thought process, leaving me awestruck instead.

“That’s okay, but you owe me a coffee now.” She giggled, actually giggled, even with the scorching liquid causing her shirt to stick to her body. “Maybe… together?”

I didn’t hesitate to agree, taking her up on the offer that weekend and never looking back. Even when a loud crash, followed by a quiet, harsh ‘shit’ woke me up in a startle, there was no regret. Maybe just a little concern for my girlfriend who now that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, can be seen holding her knee on the floor of our bedroom.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to wake you,” she whispered out, grabbing onto the dresser to stand straight again. Once she was on her feet, she came over to sit on the edge of our bed, immediately running her fingers through my hair. If I wasn’t so worried about her knee, I probably would’ve fell asleep again.

“Are you okay?” She giggled at my scratchy morning voice before nodding her head. It’s then I realized how the sun hasn’t even begun to rise, the room still pitchblack. “What are you doing up?”

“Getting ready to go to the city, sleepyhead,” she said as if it was the most obvious answer, but truthfully, it left me with more questions.

“At... 5 am?” I sat up, glancing at the alarm clock three times just to make sure I was reading it right. She may have always been a little strange, but usually at a reasonable hour.

At this, she stood up to continue getting ready for the very early morning. Now I notice why she fell, the piles of clothes leading to the closet had to have at least half of her outfits compiled together.

“Well, yeah. I want to get there before noon.” Even in my perplexed state, I rose from the bed and carefully tiptoed around haphazardly thrown clothes to reach her.

While wrapping my arms around her waist still hidden under my t-shirt, I questioned. “It’s right outside? You have 7 hours.”

She turned to look at me funny as if I wasn’t the one digging through clothes and waking up before dawn to walk literally 5 minutes to my desired location. My eyebrows must have subconsciously furrowed at one point, because she brought her hand up to stroke her thumb on my forehead. Immediately, I felt the tension melt, no longer caring to correct my confusion. She still did it anyway.

“Not DC, silly. New York!” I wish it were untrue, but my heart dropped at her words. She was leaving, going to a city I wasn’t familiar with beyond reading about, solving cases, and memorizing subway maps. Is this how she feels every time I board that jet?

“W-what? You’re just going to New York City?” I inwardly cringed at how desperate and sad I sounded, but I really didn’t want her to leave.

“Mhm,” she mumbled, turning back around to return digging in her closet.

“For how long?” Please change your mind. Please change your mind. Please change you-

Realizing that I was fully awake, she let out a boisterous laugh, allowing the way it bounced off our four little walls to return back to us. It was a sound most treasured. “I was hoping to get back around 9.”

“What?” I leaned back to look at her like she was absolutely preposterous. I mean, she was!

“Roadtrip!”

That’s how I found myself in the passenger seat of her car, no coffee in my hand because I wasn’t allowed until I have “a real cup of coffee.” Whatever the hell that means better happen soon, because as much as I loved watching the way she concentrates on the road in front of her, my eyes were starting to droop.

“It’s going to be another 4 hours. You can sleep, my love.” How she knew me so well, I will never be able to figure out, but I was out before we even made it across state borders.

That however, didn’t last very long. My girlfriend may be short and sweet, but behind the wheel? That’s a different story. The horn to her car is a very familiar sound when I’m jolted awake by a sudden stop.

“Really, asshole? Go!” She yelled, slamming her hand against the top of the steering wheel before looking over at me. “Hey, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to wake you yet. I forgot how awful drivers are here.”

“Where is here exactly?” I questioned, sitting up from my slouched position to find cars practically on top of each other on a road not wide enough for two lanes.

“New Jersey. We’re 10 minutes away.” Wow, I didn’t realize I slept for that long, and I have to admit I’m a little surprised I wasn’t woken up sooner.

“How are we 10 minutes away? It’s at least another 30 to get to the tunnel.” Looking at our surroundings didn’t help me determine our exact location. To the left of us, there were dozens of graffiti murals on the side of what I assumed was another elevated highway. To the right, sidestreets with local businesses ranging from auto repair shops to fast food joints to gyms.

“Nuh uh, stop analyzing mister. You’ll know when we get there.” She waved a finger in my directions, putting a pin in my scrutinization. I pouted right back, successfully playing along to the theme of her scolding me like a 5 year old.

“I don’t like surprises you know.” It was the truth, but her contagious laughter that filled the car made me slightly less disinclined to stop asking questions.

“Oh I know, but trust me, you’ll like this one.” She went to go reach over to grab my hand from where it was resting in my lap, but stopped short and retracted in favor of slamming the horn. “Oh, come on!”

***

“So you drove to a train station... in New Jersey?” I asked while she was… attempting to park the car.

“Well, yeah. I’ve been taking this route since I was a little girl.” Once she finally figured out how to evenly space a two door convertible in a very spacious parking spot, she unbuckled her seatbelt, and was quick to grab her bag from the backseat. “Well, come on mister, we’re going to miss the train.”

To be quite honest, I have never been so lost in my life. I could probably pinpoint our exact location on a map if I wanted to, granted I was given any sort of information, but part of me didn’t want to. Scratch that, all of me didn’t want to, because my entire life has been planned out in front of me before, but right now, I get to be spontaneous with the most beautiful girl on the planet.

“Don’t let go of my hand,” she told me, lacing our fingers together and pulling me forward. “Don’t stop to look around, you will get pushed.”

We made it inside, and if I thought the DC transit system was bustling with people constantly, this place was so much worse. There were hallways left and right, all packed with people in a rush. It seems everybody had some place to be and zero time to get there.

“Upstairs.” We walked up two flights before reaching a platform, buying our tickets and making it just in time for a train to arrive. “I know they come every 8 minutes, but thank god we made this one,” she said as she sat down.

The cart we were in wasn’t too crowded, and once I finally found a map on the wall across from us, I saw that it was a direct ride to the World Trade Center.

“You said you took this train when you were little?”

“Yeah, I went to the city a lot as a kid. This was the easiest, and the cheapest way there.” A small smile played at her lips, obviously the product of some childhood memory. “I used to hop it.”

“Of course you did,” I laughed back with her, thinking about how an innocent looking child would be the first person to get away with sneaking onto the train.

***

“I said it before, I will say it again. Do not let go of my hand.” This time it was more stern, and if I were being honest, I would say that it got me the slightest bit nervous. She must have noticed, she always does, because she continued. “Don’t worry, it just gets congested and I don’t want to lose you.”

She was right about that, it indeed was very congested, but that was okay because she was holding my hand, and I would follow her just about anywhere if it meant she kept looking over her shoulder and smiling when she saw me. Once we made it across the way, and in front of heavy looking glass doors, she turned to me and started walking backwards.

“You okay? This is definitely not off to a great start.” She was wrong, it was off to a perfect start.

“Yeah, I’m okay, but you might want to watch where you’re going,” I said before her back hit the door.

“Please I can get here with my eyes closed.” And then we were outside, and all 5 of my senses were hit immediately. The sun was shining down on us, and before I could complain about not bringing my sunglasses, she handed them to me. My heart fluttered at the innocent act, taking the sunglasses with such gratitude even though she had already moved on to retrieve hers. “Do you smell that?” She asked.

“There are a lot of answers to that question,” I told her, not knowing if she was talking about the smell of the construction happening at the corner, the permanent garbage smell or something entirely different.

“The hotdogs, silly. Come on, there’s nothing like ‘em.” This time, I laced our fingers together, not because I was scared of losing her, I was, but I just really wanted to be closer to her. She didn’t mind, in fact, she let out a content hum and leaned her head on my arm as we walked to the stand.

“Can I get four hotdogs with sauerkraut and two grape sodas,” she asked the vendor, who politely nodded before moving on to prepare our food.

“You’re going to have a heart attack by 35,” I said as I nudged her with my shoulder. She gave me a small push back before answering.

“Is that a doctor’s diagnosis?” She asked as she took our now ready food into her hands, after paying the man before I even had time to blink. I just grabbed the two cans of soda and followed her where she was making a beeline for a park bench. “Watch out for skaters.”

“Yes, it is indeed a doctor's diagnosis.” I unwrapped one of the hotdogs before taking a bite. I closed my eyes and let out a content hum. “It may be a little worth it.”

“Exactly.” We sat there quietly, enjoying the warm weather and sounds of wheels against pavement. At one point, she rested her head against my shoulder, and I am convinced wherever she went would be Heaven.

***

“Are your eyes closed?” We found ourselves with both our hands interlocked, my eyes closed while she walked backwards. I gave an ‘mhm’ before she continued. “We’re here, just keep them closed, and…” her words trailed off. “Okay open.”

I opened my eyes to her holding her arms out in the middle of the largest bookstore I’ve ever seen. “Surprise!” My eyes were bouncing everywhere. It wasn’t too crowded, the large stairwell across the store catching my eye first. There were bookshelves tens of feet high, all loaded with different genres and authors. To the right of us, tiny knick knacks and pins and socks. It was beautiful.

“Wow,” I whispered out, still stuck in my place admiring our surroundings. She was beaming up at me, a hint of pride at her successfulness to drag me 6 hours away to the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

“The Strand has always been my favorite place in the city. Come on, let’s go explore.” She grabbed my hands again, pulling me deeper into the store towards a shelf labeled adult fiction.

***

Six books, three pairs of socks and a postcard later, we were back on the busy streets of New York, aimlessly walking and admiring the tall buildings and different attractions. Well she was, I was admiring the way she was looking around like it was her first time here. Maybe I should have been paying more attention to our surroundings, but no amount of skyscrapers or fountains could possibly ever match up to her level of beauty.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” I asked randomly, startling her into jumping a tiny bit before giggling. She stopped us, turning to face me fully before reaching up to grab my face in her hands.

“Once or twice.” The kiss we shared on the New York streets were no different than the ones before, but this time, it felt like a silent promise. A passing between two lovers that no matter where we are, our love is the most beautiful thing there is. “I love you too, dork.”

___

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tundrainafrica · 3 years

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Title: Lovebug (9/12)

Summary:

“It might be a bug.”

“A bug?”

“Sometimes the developers of this application make mistakes. This is our first time meeting I’m sure so…Isn’t it a bit weird that we just met for the first time and it rings like this? And for two strangers to coincidentally ring each other’s alarms?“

Levi is the developer of the Love Alarm App and Hange is married to Zeke.

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Other Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Notes: Sorry for taking my sweet time posting this. We had no wifi for a while, transpo issue and I was dead asleep as soon as I got home two nights in a row lmfao.

Anyway, feedback is very much appreciated :D

Levi might have felt a little guilty about letting loose just that evening but his conservative mind was finding all the ways to justify it.

Maybe the justifications held some weight. After all, taking the midnight train out of the city wasn’t the strangest thing to do. Hange and Levi weren’t the only ones at the ticket gate then they weren’t the only ones waiting on the platform. On the train, Levi could count the number of empty seats more easily than the occupied ones.

He started to relax as soon as he settled on one of the seats. He convinced himself that in the end, he had been overreacting. There was nothing at all odd with rushing to her home then to his, packing two overnight bags and buying two last minute tickets to the northernmost station of their country.

To Pemberley. Levi didn’t have the time to load the book into his reader again. He instead downloaded the pdf file to his phone.

He had willed himself to make sense of the black on the bright white screen before deciding, it was too late at night to read. Instead he propped his elbows on the windowsill and leaned his chin on his hand. He snuck a glance at Hange who sat in front of him, leaning on the window in that same way.

A long day behind them, they were both exhausted. On the bright side, if Levi closed his eyes and let the train rock to whatever rhythm it was most comfortable with, he was sure that in a split second, they would have arrived at their destination.

Sleep could have lasted less than a second. Next thing Levi knew, he was fighting to open his eyes. The sun rose without warning, the only thing between them just an empty glass that did nothing to protect him from the first rays of morning.

Levi quickly adjusted his view, making sure he wasn’t directly staring at the sky like a while ago. He craned his head back, instead focusing on the rolling hills and the countryside.

It wasn’t the British countryside in the book. It didn’t seem at all like a Pemberley or a Rosings Park or Longbourn. Still, he delved into the passing green and foraged for whatever similarities his sleep muddled mind could come up with.

One thing Levi dared to note, despite his limited experience traveling, the view from an interregional highway, or an interregional train, the rolling hills that passed by, the clusters of trees that varied in density and the plains that dotted the view were all the same regardless of location. Despite the variety nature could offer, nature still had unifying characteristics. While at the same time, nature was distinct from everything non-nature.

And when it wasn’t unwillingly tamed, paved over, forced to coexist with concrete, buildings and humans, it was a sight to behold.

It was enough to take his breath away, enough to make him almost regretful that the train was moving too fast for him to stare for just a second longer at a changing landscape or canopies that blurred amongst one another.

Eventually, regret at not appreciating nature had him exhausted. He turned in front of him to see Hange’s eyes were fixed at whatever passing objects caught her eye outside the window. Her head bobbed, her eyes darted from left to right and her mouth was half open and she didn’t seem at all in a hurry to close them.

“I’m sure this isn’t your first time seeing this much nature,” Levi said, a humble start to light conversation.

Hange seemed comfortable going along with it. “It isn’t. We had the country club,” she said. There was a nonchalant look on her face as if she saw the ‘country club’ as more of a consolation.

Levi couldn’t help but agree. Golf courses were all green, the mini forests that lined the paths from the golf courses, to the beaches to the summer houses were all nature. Yet they were of a type of nature, trained not to bite any unsuspecting visitors.

When Levi leaned back on his chair, turning his head out of the window, he appreciated the raw green for a second longer. Then he concluded, there was novelty in seeing nature at its most candid form.

Hange spoke up. “You know, I haven’t been able to leave the city since we left the country club. And not traveling in months... This feels new.”

“But you’ve travelled before,” Levi responded.

“Of course I have,” Hange said. “Zeke would always take me out to the best gardens, the best parks, the best hiking trails… He knows I like nature.”

“So he took you to ‘Pemberley?’ Then to ‘Rosing Park then Longborn?” Most were likely fictional places but at that point, Hange may have had her own idea of what fictional was.

“No, not to my Pemberley,” Hange said, like it was the most unimportant thing in the world. “Never.”

“So this was supposed to be your first time going together?” Levi asked. He noted that they never did get to sit down and map the route to Hange’s dream destinations. Hell, he didn’t even know where they were.

He opened his phone, then the map of the northernmost region.

The capital of the northern region had city buses, a small subway system, nothing like what they had back home. Levi traced the blue and the green, pondering for himself which had the most rolling hills, the most ‘gardens.’ Obviously, over a very zoomed out map and a few hundred mile radius, it would be difficult to tell so he consulted Hange. “We could take an unlimited bus ticket… or a two day all you can ride train---”

“No. We rent a car,” Hange said.

“Wait, but if we don’t know the land--.” There were too many excuses he could have brought up. The excuse he was most hesitant to even fathom seemed most pressing then. Levi didn’t know how to drive.

Hange probably saw through it. “I’ll drive.” The cheeky grin on her face was enough of a hint, she was more than ready for adventure.

Levi closed the maps application and pocketed his phone. “So I’m assuming you’ll be doing the navigation.”

Hange only nodded, her smug smile getting wider by the second.

***

Hange surprisingly knew how to navigate the complexities of building an itinerary. What the hell she was doing, how the hell she was doing it and what the hell her plan was, Levi couldn’t be too sure.

Thirty minutes into arriving at the regional train station, they had rented a car and secured a pocket wifi. Thirty five minutes into it, Hange was pulling out of the station in a rented sedan.

The train station was situated in the middle of the city and in the car, Levi had to subdue the panic which came with going out of the city then seeing the scenery slowly shift from five story buildings to two story houses then finally to the peaceful green offered by the city outskirts. He wondered why they had even taken a train station to town if they were going back into countryside landscapes anyway.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Levi asked. Levi knew that Hange had been there once before. Just the idea that someone could actually easily navigate expressways and exits without a phone on the dock and a guide seemed almost unnerving.

“Ish,” Hange said, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

“We have wifi, we could use a maps application to navigate?” Levi never drove, he wouldn’t know but, it couldn’t hurt to be just a little more careful.

“Maybe later. I’ve been here more than enough times,” Hange said. They rode in silence for a minute or so more before she turned to him. “We’re gonna be on the road for a while and driving on the freeway gets boring.”

Levi glanced up at her questioningly.

Hange caught his eye “Tell me a story.”

“About what?”

“How was your date with Petra?” The question came out of nowhere and Hange had said it too casually and too abruptly and that had Levi choking on his own saliva.

He recovered quickly, clearing his throat. “Excuse me?”

“Your date with Petra? Didn’t you tell me you would be going on one?”

“I did,” Levi admitted. “Because you asked me to,” he added, a second later.

“I suggested it.” Hange clarified. “And how did it feel?”

“Good.” His response was automatic.

One hand on the steering wheel, Hange pulled her phone from her lap, unlocked it and turned on her modified emotions alarm. “Turn yours on.”

Levi only saw one reason why she’d do all that. “Why? You don’t trust me?”

“Well, you went through all the trouble of making the gift right? Let’s make use of it.”

Levi could have fought. He only needed five seconds to see reason in her order. Besides, if she turned hers on, it would turn out to be a fair trade. He turned on his phone scrolled through the home screens and opened the application.

“So how did it feel?” Hange asked. She set her phone on the stand and hovered one finger over the activate button.

“It felt good,” Levi willed himself to say it with the same conviction as a second ago, firm and straightforward but just a little shaky underneath.

Still too shaky to deceive his own application. A yellow spot just under the words ‘happy’ would have been nice. After all, ‘good’ was a word that generally implied that something was good, something made me happy. The alarm flashed with green and Levi had half the mind to fling his phone over the backseat of the car.

“Happy sad? Or sad happy?” Hange asked, there was a laugh in her voice.

Was she mocking me? It felt like a much better argument to quote her, mock her maybe. He glared at her. You told me love is a choice right? By some allusion, Levi attempted to put it all together. “I’m making the choice to say it was a good and productive date. We tried to pick out a good present for you.”

“And in the end, you decided to make an application,” Hange said. “Did Petra suggest anything?”

“Tea, a wallet, a pencil case…”

“I would have enjoyed those,” Hange said.

“It didn’t seem like that to me,” Levi admitted. He studied her features as he spoke.

Hange’s face was unchanging, her eyes still looking straight ahead. Levi was almost amazed she managed to keep some of her focus in conversation. Hange turned the car, swerving towards one exit.

Levi winced at the white that flashed in front of him for a split second. “How do you feel?” He asked.

“About what?”

“About the date?” He answered. Levi gave Hange a good once over, ending with her hand on the clutch. Her hand wasn’t shaking, but she held it like she was going to pull it out of its place any second now.

Hange paused. She had hovered her hand over the alarm but she never did activate it.

Levi subtly turned towards the phone then back at her. “Happy?” At that point, maybe a mischievous side of him had taken over. He wanted to provoke her.

Hange poked the active button on her phone, much harder than necessary, hard enough for Levi to wonder if it had reduced the phone’s lifespan by even just a year or so.

Her phone flashed once again with a purple dot.

Levi noticed her eyes widen for a second then a flash of pink flowered on her cheeks before she looked away. “Angry sad or sad angry?” He asked, deliberately mimicking Hange’s old tone of a while ago. It came out more of a growl than whatever naturally sing songy voice Hange managed everyday. Either way it had been a satisfying set of motions.

“Angry sad… Or maybe sad angry?” Hange murmured. Then she hummed for a second longer, the car slowed down with it and she turned back to him. “I feel...purple,” she said.

Purple isn’t a feeling. Levi glanced accusingly at her. Hange though wasn’t looking back at him. If she saw anything through her peripherals, she didn’t make it obvious.

With her own series of gestures, Hange had given one message. She didn’t want to be bothered.

Yet, she had asked him about Petra for a reason.

Levi couldn’t tell how much he saw was a trick of the light or a clear hint. Hange’s jaw had tightened, her eyes narrowed ahead. She didn’t talk much after the word ‘purple’ that softened to a whisper mid word.

For the first time, she wasn’t being completely transparent

Levi then felt less obligated to open up. “If you’re feeling purple, then I’m feeling green,” he said.

They didn’t talk for a while after that.

The car exited the main road to a road half its size. Although the car always rattled, it was particularly more obvious then and as Levi looked out the window and back at her, he realized that maybe it was because she was slowing down.

Slowing down, or maybe vacillating the best course of action.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Just trying to remember the way around here,” Hange said. She looked behind her, then forward again.

“What are we doing here?”

“I’m gonna use this birthday weekend of mine to take a trip down memory lane, reflect on stuff.”

“If that’s how you want to celebrate your birthday…” Levi checked his phone once more before pocketing it.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Hange said, her tone more serious. “Going on these types of treks, they really help. More than you probably think they do.”

Levi could at least try to understand it, if he just focused on how far apart the houses were, the notable manicured green of his surroundings and every single tree, flower, root and bush that just seemed to have a place. All acting prim and proper as if they were doing the gardens a favor.

There must be some appeal at least. “It’s quiet,” Levi noted as the car slowed to a stop to the side of the road.

“Most of the houses here aren’t occupied,” Hange answered. “Who actually wants to live in the middle of nowhere all year round.”

Levi turned around once, scanning his surroundings for a second longer. The houses were too far apart, he counted five just by doing a 360 but he knew if he squinted and took in the other shapes far past the downhill slope he could count more. “From the looks of the houses here, rich people,” Levi said.

“During the summer maybe or during the winter vacation. Every other time of the year most people will stay out in the city so they’re nearer to work,” Hange said. “Zeke owns this house.” She didn't have to point far, Hange only had to casually brush her thumb over to her side for Levi to follow her gaze.

Of course Zeke would own one. When Levi looked behind him again, then looked to the far left and the far right, he had to admit Zeke had one of the grandest ones, a wide two story mansion situated at the top of a hill.

“This is my Rosings Park,” Hange said. She walked towards the small pedestrian gate, pulled a key from her pocket and with a quick flick of movements--- as if she had done it so many times before--- she unlocked then pushed the metal gate open with a creak.

The view behind the black bars was only more beautiful. They climbed the hill and slowly but surely, Levi was getting a much better view of the house on top. He noted that the house gleamed with a type of beauty that could take one’s breath away. He had been a little self conscious though and he found himself willing his mouth shut, letting his breaths come out with a more rehearsed rhythm.

“Did you ever continue the book?” Hange asked, her eyes fixed ahead.

It was easy to tell which book she had been talking about. “Since you spoiled me? No,” he admitted.

“Then I don’t think you’ve read far enough into the book if you still think Elizabeth ended up with Mr. Wickham,” Hange said. “You probably won’t appreciate Rosings park then.”

“You still remember…” Levi could have sworn it had been months since he told her about the book.

“The book means a lot to me,” Hange said. Her words were a bit more careful that time, but she was starting to climb the hill, a little faster as if whatever scenes were running through her head then had injected in her, enough energy for adventure.

Levi brushed away a rush of guilt and he followed behind her. “Go spoil,” he said. I’m sorry about being angry. He didn’t say those last two words, awe, exhaustion or maybe a combination of both had him opting to stay quiet. Maybe he chose to reflect and as he followed behind, he started to wonder why he had been angry about her spoiling in the first place.

Hange seemed surprisingly eager to spoil him. The first words out of her mouth came out unimpeded. “Rosings Park is where Mr. Darcy first proposed to Elizabeth.”

First proposed. “So she rejected him?” Levi asked.

Hange turned back to him and nodded, a strange smile on her face. “And why do you think Elizabeth would reject Mr. Darcy?”

“He was an asshole right?”

“According to Elizabeth that is…” Hange looked at him expectantly but Levi for the life of him couldn’t tell what she wanted. She didn’t give him time to answer. She ran straight ahead towards the side of the house.

Levi was left with no choice but to follow. After all, the grounds were much larger than Levi had expected. From his view at the bottom of the hill, the house had seemed small, only composed of the front porch. As Hange went behind the house, disappearing in the corner, Levi started to suspect that the summer house was larger.

Consequently, Levi was occupying himself over the wealth of Zeke.

Again. The view didn’t do anything to help. The corner opened up to manicured gardens, clean cut hedges and flowers that could have been arranged by some invisible hand. Or maybe they were arranged artificially. It probably wasn’t beyond Zeke and his money to find ways to grow flowers so they were evenly spaced, further accentuating the fiery orange and bright red on the simple green.

Hange followed the stone path that lined the large house, slowly balancing on the pebbled line that cut between the cobbled stone path like it was a tightrope. She had the balance, maybe the eagerness to look straight ahead, and Levi couldn't really follow her gaze or be certain of where she was staring.

She didn’t look particularly entranced at anything as if she had seen it so many times before.

“This is one of Jaeger summer houses,” Hange said. She stopped by the fork of the path, one side circled the house, the other went straight into the garden. “He has others all over the country, others abroad. Too many to count and I don’t even think I’ve been to all of them.”

“Okay.” Levi had felt pressured to say something. As the awkward silence dragged on, Levi realized that might have not been the best thing to say.

What else was there to say though?

Wow the garden is so nice. It seemed like an appropriate thing to say but it didn’t feel like something he would have liked to admit to Hange.

Wow your husband is so rich. What else would that do but reiterate what Levi already knew?

Wow, I wish I was your husband. That last one felt like a mind fart. Something that had seemed natural to think but as Levi pondered it for a second longer, he realized just thinking that exact phrase seemed all the more inappropriate.

“Does it seem artificial?” Hange asked.

“Yes, it does.” That answer came out easier definitely, especially when it wasn’t a begrudging compliment. Especially when in the back of his mind, he could remind himself, those weren’t his words, those were Hange’s.

Hange continued to indulge him. “Gaudy?”

“Very tacky, incredibly tacky.” Maybe those words had seemed more for him than for anyone else. A hint of guilt settled at his chest but then he remembered, the Jaeger family had more than enough money. He could spare a few unkind words. He looked at Hange, trying his best, to keep his eyes away from the garden in front of him, before he started to doubt the reliability of his own words.

Despite the ‘gaudiness,’ Hange walked ahead, following the stony path and Levi followed behind. Beyond the shiny manicured hedges were benches, a gazebo and Hange sat one of the ones closest to the top, just before the steep incline fell. It was a good vantage point for a comprehensive view of the garden.

At the highest point, the green expanded in all directions. He could pick out how the sun kissed the lawn, the trees and how they shone with something seemingly unnatural. The more Levi stared, the more easily it became to pick out what gaudiness Hange had been talking about.

With his eyes looking out for the right glimmers, he soon figured for himself, they shone like plastic. It soon became apparent to Levi, there was something artificial and tacky about manicured lawns, well trimmed hedges and carefully positioned flowers. The guilt assuaged and Levi felt all the more confident to look back at Hange. “Why do you like it here then?”

“It’s still Rosings park to me,” Hange said matter-of-factly.

“And what’s so special about Mr. Darcy’s first proposal?”

“Read the book,” Hange said as if that were the easiest thing to do then.

The book was loaded into his phone. It was just a few clicks away, reading was an entirely different process and Levi found it tempting to overlook that order---or that friendly suggestion altogether.

“Just spoil me. You spoiled me already before,” Levi said.

“Mr. Darcy first proposed here.”

You said that already. “And? What’s so special about that?”

Hange didn't reply to him immediately. For a long few seconds, she stared at nothing in particular then turned to him, a defiant look on her face. “You know, you remind me of Mister Darcy.” A backhanded insult maybe, enough to have Levi looking away as blood rushed to his face.

Anger, it was definitely anger. “How do I remind you of Mister Darcy?” Levi challenged.

“Read---”

“Don’t.” Levi looked away.. “Tell me to read the book.”

“And there you are again.” Hange waved one hand at him, as if making a point.

A point Levi could only grip weakly. “You think I’m an asshole?” One realization dawned on him, maybe he had been pressing a little too much at her points.

“Not an asshole. A well intentioned man with a very abrasive manner of speaking.”

“Abrasive?” Levi asked. When he realized he put a little too much lip into the ‘br’ and too much throat into that last last syllable that Hange might have just been right, but only just. “What makes you think I’m abrasive?” He added, a second later, just making his manner of saying the word ‘abrasive,’ softer and tamer.

Hange looked pointedly at him. She stood up, right in front of the gazebo. And she stood there for a second longer, as if she expected him to follow.

It was awkward to sit alone on a bench, in a garden he wasn’t familiar with, especially when the partner of the owner was standing seemingly uncomfortable by the gazebo. He stood up and walked towards her.

“Was I at least tolerable?” Hange asked with a very distinct tone, a hint of a mock accent in her voice.

Tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me. For some reason, those words had stuck with him. “Why the hell are you citing the book?”

“Oh, so you noticed. I wanna play a bit,” Hange said.

“Play what?”

“Just play a bit with the man who reminds me so much of Mister Darcy,” Hange said. The insult still poked at Levi at his most irritable and he was tempted to walk away.

Hange put one hand out and the most natural movement was to look back. “What do you want?” Levi asked. Two parts of him were grappling for control, one with the intention to walk away and one tempted to take her hand. “Why are you putting your hand out?”

She’s married. She’s married. She’s married.

“May I have this dance?” Hange asked.

No, you cannot dance with a married person. People go to balls because they’re single. His conscience wasn’t screaming but it had grumbled it with utmost authority.

Holding hands was off limits. Holding hands with a married person in one of the summer houses of her billionaire husband was very much off limits. What the hell was Hange thinking? His head started to spin, there was a hitch of breath and Levi didn’t even think confusion could have sent a prickle in his eyes.

The hand quickly disappeared from in front of him. Levi looked up to see Hange had pulled that hand back and it fell to her side. Still, Hange was moving it, as if it was still very much fair game. “See, you’re a softie at heart,” she said.

“What are you trying to prove?” Levi asked.

“That you’re like Mr. Darcy?” Hange was getting more and more smug. “Mr. Darcy didn’t wanna dance either.”

“We’re not in a ball,” Levi said, blood rushing to his cheeks. Suddenly everything seemed like an insult. Darcy was an asshole yet a big softie. Two descriptions on two different ends of the spectrum. Levi started to reflect. Which description was more insulting?

Hange leaned back on the gazebo. ”Let me enjoy this, I met a guy who reminds me of mister Darcy. Then when we first met, I thought you hated me, if not hated me, I thought you just hated the world,” she said.

"How can you assume that from our first meeting?" Levi asked.

Hange sighed. "You sat too far away from me, you acted like my being there was an inconvenience and you weren't too happy to be answering all my questions."

"I was being professional."

"I have met sales people nicer than that."

Levi wasn’t a salesman. That much, he could admit. "And just because I was a little abrasive, you'll assume I hate you?"

"What can I say, that's my prejudice," Hange said. She didn't look like she would have bothered to hear much about his explanation.

"And what are you going to say now? My own abrasiveness is pride?" Levi challenged. Really, he was in no mood for a challenge then, a challenge he didn’t himself understand. He sighed and turned back to the bench. From the mischievous glint in Hange’s eyes, it was obvious there were way more things he still didn’t understand. “Give me time to finish the book,” he said.

He stretched his legs out, unlocked his phone and opened the ebook file.

He didn't remember the last words where he stopped but he did remember one particular passage that seemed a little bolder, the ink darker particularly on the bright white of his phone screen.

You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who could make you so.

Then comprehension came quickly after that. Levi scanned through the next page, until reaching a point where he knew there was new information.

Back to that asshole Darcy. At that point, Levi was in less of a mood to reflect. Hange had called him Darcy, he still considered that one character to be a total asshole and he found himself torn between denying and accepting his sad fate.

Hange continued to move, a flicker at his peripherals. He felt it clearly, she sat beside him again. He heard the click as she unlocked her phone. Then the all too familiar sound as the love alarm activated. Love alarm or Emotion alarm?

Levi cursed himself for reusing that damn sound. He glanced quickly, just to search for some flash in the color. He couldn't really tell the contents of her phone from his angle. And when he had gathered up the courage to look, Hange had already pocketed it.

“Peaceful isn’t it?” Hange started.

“How do you feel today?” Levi asked. He kept his voice disconnected, not looking at all at Hange.

“Happy,” she said.

Levi had turned on his own application almost surreptitiously, making the conscious effort to silence it just a second ago.

The alarm flashed before him again. A very familiar yellow, with the words happy on top.

“Good for you then,” Levi finally responded.

He made another conscious effort, a quick sanity check, just to make sure the smile wasn’t apparent in his tone.

The house wasn't empty.

As Levi soon found out as they made their way back out to the gate, there were housekeepers, gardeners. And they seemed fond of Hange, fond enough to even remember her birthday. Some had even been friendly enough to ask who the man with her was.

Friendly. Or suspicious. For a while longer, Levi was self conscious.

But there was nothing to hide. He and Hange after all had just gotten friendly over the months.

“This is Levi, he’s a developer helping me work on my PhD,” Hange explained it like it was just the truth.. “And I thought I’d show him around the estate. If you don’t mind…” And it was the stone cold truth and as she spoke, Levi couldn’t help but be fascinated at how feelings of sadness, guilt and relief mixed so easily together inside him.

The housekeeper shook her head. “No, we don’t mind at all. Do you two need lodging? We could prepare---”

Hange put her hands up in front of her. “No, that would be too much. We’re only here for the night and I think I wanna go further up north.”

“Just like last time?” Worry flashed across the housekeeper’s face for just a second. “You know it gets dangerous nearer to the mountains…”

“We’ll only be there for a while, just long enough to see it again. And we’ll be careful about it.” Hange looked like she was saying too much. But she always talked so it shouldn’t have been such an odd thing to think. Maybe because Hange spoke with a little more tension, her words came out of her much faster, sometimes stilted and Levi found himself staring, then avoided her gaze as he realized he couldn’t even control what he was feeling.

The quick exchange eventually ended and he was following Hange out of the house. Her strides were much harder to keep up with.

“Sorry about that,” Hange said. “I get nervous when I visit the Jaeger estate alone.”

“You’re married to Zeke, you have every right to be there.”

“I married Zeke, not his money. I don’t wanna play the partner that just suddenly enjoys all the richest and powers of my husband. That’s why I didn’t even take his name. I’m not a gold digger. I’m not a Jaeger, we just so happened to get married.” She got into the car and closed the door with a louder slam than usual.” I’d feel much better staying over if Zeke was with me.”

“You didn’t have to take me here either if you were uncomfortable.”

“I wanted to show you my Rosing Park,” Hange said. She placed her hand on the clutch and started the car. “And next, we go to ‘Pemberley.’ It’s a few hours away from here so buckle up.”

The car pulled out from the driveway and soon they were out on the road again.

A few minutes of silence later, Levi started to get a little restless. “This book really means a lot to you huh?” He asked.

Hange nodded then she was quiet for a while longer and Levi thought it proper to just let her navigate her way through. The car continued to whirr and if Levi looked closely, he even noticed his body was shaking with it. If he read for a while longer, he could end up with his head spinning and his eyes crossing. He increased the font size and willed himself to read again.

“You know,” Hange’s voice was ringing in the silence and it pulled him out of his semi concentrated state.

Levi looked up at her, and just behind her, he saw they arrived back in the free way.

Hange continued. “One thing about Pride and Prejudice, the author doesn’t spend too much time talking about how the landscapes look like. The appearance of the houses and gardens are up for interpretation.”

Levi recalled, Hange was a very inquisitive person. Enough to hyperfixate on landscape? He was doubting. “Then why did you imagine Zeke’s manor as Rosings?” He asked.

Hange shrugged. “If you read the book, you’d see, it was the home of Lady Catherine, an incredibly tacky place and if you remember the gardens behind the house, they’re very green but they seem…. Artificial? Rehearsed?” She gave a pained look.

“Then why do you care enough to look at them if you hate the gardens that much?”

Hange shook her head. “I don’t hate them but the novel, it made me reflect on a lot of things and sometimes, when I allow myself to look at the landscapes, I’m able to think about what happened in the book, and about love and---”

“So Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth,” Levi interrupted. “Then what happened?”

“She turned him down,” Hange said.

“Why?”

“To put it simply, because she thought Darcy was an asshole.”

“It’s only natural that people wouldn’t want to marry an asshole right?” Levi asked. “Books should be teaching those types of things.”

Hange spared him a long glare. “Well, here’s the thing. Mr. Darcy isn’t an asshole. He’s misunderstood.”

“And what do romance novels do but romanticize every single ‘misunderstood’ man.”

Hange hummed and stared back again at the front. The car continued to move at a steady pace. A long pause followed. Then she spoke up again. “What if I told you Pride and Prejudice is not really a romance?”

“When it follows a couple and the development of a relationship, I think it counts.”

Hange patted the steering wheel. “Well sure, the novel tackles love and marriage but the approach is… cold, calculating. If you notice, they spend more time discussing money, properties, duty. It takes into account money, status, upbringing… so it seems more like a social commentary to me. ”

You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who could make you so.

“Then how did this book shape your idea of love?” Levi asked.

Hange put her finger to her chin. She had a far off look. “I like the idea of approaching love as something to calculate and to think about. Like Elizabeth and Darcy, they explored it, they thought long and hard about it..”

“Oh?” Levi asked, one eyebrow raised. “Is this where your ‘love is a choice’ schtick comes from?”

Hange bit her lip. “Not just that definitely. There’s a lot to learn about being hasty, about having to think long and deep about love and marriage. They didn’t fall in love at first, they were prideful. They had their prejudices but they made it work… And I thought to myself, maybe these are what love and marriage are? Maybe they're calculating like a science, maybe we should consider everything from reputation, money, family and convenience when we deal with something like love and marriage and it’s okay to approach life that way.”

For some reason, that tirade only made Levi heavier and heavier the more he continued. "The main character… she turned down Mr. Collins proposal and that was because she didn't love him right? Emotions play a part too," Levi said.

"I'm not denying it," Hange said. "But ask yourself, how much of a part are emotions supposed to play?"

That question, Levi couldn't answer. Somehow, that should have been something someone a little more experienced like Hange should have answered for him. Instead, she kept quiet, her eyes looking straight ahead, but she blinked a little faster the next few times as if she was struggling with something he couldn't see.

It could have been uncharacteristic. It was an odd set of emotions to play with but Levi was suddenly more and more compelled to break the silence himself. With nothing much else to say, he let his emotions speak for him. "If I were a little cold before, I didn't mean that."

"No offense taken," Hange grinned at him knowingly. "You seem tense." She was studying him for that glimmer of a second before she started to fiddle with her phone with her free hand. "I have the audiobook for Pride and Prejudice. You wanna listen?"

***

"They gradually ascended for half a mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which the road with some abruptness wound.

"This is supposed to be my Pemberley," Hange said. She had been hyping it up since a while ago that it seemed almost anticlimactic then. With the tone Hange was giving, he was sure she had been a little disappointed too. "Believe me, it looks nicer on good days," she added.

It had been a good day until a while ago. He could have sworn the sky had been blue for at least half the trip. Grey clouds were a strange things, part of the clouds were grey from afar but never looked too menacing until they was looming directly above them. Only when it was nearer did it have the tendency to just blanket everything in a very dull and unbearable grey.

Any color would look grey with the right level of dimness. He wondered for a while longer why Hange was still continuing the trek. The longer they walked, the farther they got from the car.

Levi’s worry, his nervousness only increased threefold, fourfold then he lost count. After all, they had stopped on what could have been the middle of nowhere. He couldn't tell where they were. Any inkling of sense laid out in front of them was in the form of a dirt road, just stretched out from the freeway with no buildings for miles, no pit stops.

And if it actually started to rain? Levi imagined it for a second before shaking his head. He tried to focus on other things like the ease of walking, his manageable energy levels.

The meagre late lunch of a drive-through burger meal was more than enough for a quick hike. Levi found himself pondering whether energy should have even been expended for something so grey.

The color grey just didn't seem worth the hike to see. "Why are we here?" Levi asked.

"Let's just stay long enough to climb the hill." Hange seemed persistent. Her back was on him and he couldn't tell the face she was making then. “It might look better on the other side.”

They were near enough at least that Levi had to crane his neck to see the top and he consoled himself. Maybe it was worth the hike. Maybe Hange was more privy to weather patterns and she at least calculated the quick hike and the awe that it would be worth.

Then Levi reminded himself, it was her birthday. Whether it did leave him as in awe as she was was irrelevant. That was a consolation Hange afforded herself. He was merely a companion. There should be things to get out of the conversation at least. “Tell me about your Pemberley,” Levi said.

“You’re gonna continue reading right? Do you really want to know?” Hange asked, seeming suddenly careful with her words.

After spoiling me the rest of the way? Levi would have wanted to ask.

“You seemed invested,” Hange said. It was a sufficient answer to his silent question. “I’d rather you read it on your own. Especially the part about Pemberley and the scene in Rosing’s.”

“Why? After spoiling me this much?” His abrasiveness, the irritation had made his legs lighten under him and he moved a little faster catching up to Hange.

Hange seemed concentrated, looking ahead, not hesitating even as the incline presented itself right in front of them. It was getting steeper and Levi felt it as an ache in his legs as he climbed but Hange, admirably or begrudgingly, seemed unfazed

Levi was a few inches shorter and maybe he was at a disadvantage. He didn’t have the same investment either but he stepped forward, going at the steeper incline with wider strides while maintaining speed. He looked to Hange who was right next to him. She continued to look ahead, she craned her head back, her hastily tied hair fell behind her and she was whispering something.

If Hange hadn’t seemed hypnotized yet disturbed, if the fat cold droplets didn’t settle on his arms, getting stronger and more numerous by the second, maybe he would have let her climb and climb. He would have obediently followed behind.

It had been everything at once. Maybe confusion at everything had been that one final nail on the coffin. Irritation welled quickly, then anger. Hange hadn’t been speaking in any straightforward manner for a while already so he forced it out of her.

“Why the hell does Pemberley mean so much to you?” Levi raised his voice. Just in case that hadn’t been enough, hell, that had actually been enough, he pulled her from behind.

The rain accumulated on the dirt road quickly and when Hange turned to answer, she fell backward rapidly. Right on top of him.

It was a quick and terrifying sequence or movements, Levi found himself sandwiched, Hange in front of him, his behind buried in mud and dirt, blades of grass were brushing heavily past him. But he didn't stop.

They didn't stop. Gravity had them moving down, naturally quickly and violently down the steep incline and Levi could only be thankful that the grass had been kind, absent of anything that could have snagged at any part them.

A few long seconds later, by some miracle, they were unharmed, still very much alive.

It didn’t change the fact that at the bottom, they were both fucking dirty. And he was a little--- scratch that--- very rattled. And Hange was on top of him, her hair clung close to her, her glasses had fallen to her mouth and she seemed just a little disconcerted.

Hange pushed herself up. “I’m sorry, are you okay?” She put one hand on his cheek, one filthy hand.

Instinctively, Levi pushed it away. She was disgusting. They were both disgusting. He could taste a hint of dirt at his lips and he closed his nose and shut his mouth before he could taste anymore.

It was disgusting. And in that state, he was recalling how pleasant almost drowning seemed when he was covered in mud, the rain only continued to pour. He would rather have been drinking salt water then.

When he noticed that a minute passed under the rain, he started to observe then search for signs on how Hange might have been feeling. They had left their phones in the car. He was thankful they weren’t casualties but he was a little regretful that he couldn’t read her then.

Purple. He made a guess. That was the only reading she had given then. Sad angry? Or angry sad?

But when he looked for sadness, angriness, he saw it in those wide eyes in the red just under her eyes. Or he could have been projecting. It could have also been a placebo affect.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I got so fucking worked up over this. Let's go back." Hange's voice was stilted, alarmingly cold.

"You've done this before right?"

The rain wasn't stopping anytime soon. In fact, it came down hard and Levi could have felt like he was drowning again.

The storm had proven to be a worse adversary. The wind was almost as menacing as waves.

He struggled to his feet. Hange had held out her hand, wrapped one arm around his shoulder and standing up became a small feat.

"Hey, are you okay?" Hange asked again, her voice a whisper that brushed at his neck. She was close enough to even overwhelm the pouring rain just outside their small bubble.

He hadn't answered her earlier. He didn't even know how she had been able to get the message to him in spite of the wind blowing at their face, the thunder and the patter of the rain on the dirt road.

When they were close enough, shoulders and arms touching, her lips almost brushing against his ear. He thought it close enough that she would probably hear if he whispered. Maybe it was worth just opening his mouth to speak. Two words or maybe four. Just long enough so she won’t have to speak again the whole trek back to the car.

“Let’s just go back.”

***

Adrenaline, exhaustion and the shaken state eventually gave way to irritation once again.

It was a slow process but Hange was silent. She had been driving much slower and with the peace, the slow rhythm of the whirring of the car, Levi had time and space to contemplate.

Levi was contemplating the expenses of cleaning a rented car. When the mud started to dry and harden, when they caked at his skin, they only aggravated the at first, silent irritation. It was silent but it was irritating altogether. He angrily wiped his hands on the dashboard of the car, and reached for his phone next to the clutch.

“Levi, I can pay for cleaning up the car," Hange said.

Levi kept quiet. For one, he didn’t want to entertain the idea of making her pay for all of it. A part of him though, the stingy part, would have rather she did.

“Levi, are you angry at me?” Hange asked a minute later.

And that phrase always had that magic of making most people angrier than they were already. Levi was no exception.

Still, he did try to be just a little nicer. “You’re driving aimlessly on the road. We’re a mess in the car. We’re both covered in mud, my legs and my arms hurt. Hange, think.”

“Think?”

“Who wouldn’t be at least a little angry?” His tone betrayed his words. Hange had been responding in questions since a while ago and it only served to further aggravate it.

“I told you, I’m sorry.” She did say 'sorry' a while ago but he wasn't in the mood to accept it then. So it slipped his mind.

“Well, finally you’re being more direct but you know, it would have been helpful if you’ve been more open since a while ago.”

“More open about what?”

Levi smacked his hand on the dashboard. “There you are again, you ask questions but you never fucking answer. And if you answer you’re fucking vague, or you fucking digress.”

“Any... question you wanna ask?” Hange asked hesitantly.

“Why does Pemberley mean so much to you? Why does this damn book mean so much to you? You’re a scientist, a researcher. Why are you getting so worked up over a fucking social commentary?”

Hange gave him a wounded look, and she stared for a long time. Levi only noticed then, that that had been the longest stare she had been giving him in a while. The fiasco of a while ago was enough of an evidence that Hange did get worked up over it and Levi held it like a memento, just in case Hange decided to play oblivious.

She didn’t. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I got emotional.” But she still wasn’t answering questions.

“Why does Pemberley mean so much to you?” Levi asked again. He kept this voice hard, stone cold and firm. He enunciated every syllable and every word like they were separate from one another.

Hange avoided his gaze. “Well, I really like the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy---”

“Why do you like it so much?”

“It’s because I would have wanted the same for myself---”

“Would have?” And Levi caught it, two words that had hovered in the air for a second.

Hange clamped her mouth shut.

“Would have?” Levi repeated again in the silence. And the irritation, the discomfort and the fury from being caked from head to toe with semi dried mud had somehow been released with two words.

“I have the same for myself,” Hange clarified.

“Would?”

“It’s a slip of the tongue,” Hange said. She didn’t look back and it didn’t look like she would be prodding that topic anymore.

So Levi brought up another question. “What about Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship do you like?”

“It’s... “ Hange was hesitating. “It’s in the small details…” She seemed more concentrated on the road ahead of her.

“Go on.” Levi gripped on the seat cushion underneath him. Somehow, the car was starting to move in time to the patter of the rain.

“You might even think I’m crazy for looking at them…” Hange continued.

“But…” Levi turned to Hange, he looked closely as her lips parted as if she was about to say something.

Then her voice filled the cramped space inside the car for only a split second, before the squeak of tires, the spray of water and the burst of sensations that came with the dizzying experience of his body lurching forward in his seat.

For a second, Levi could have sworn he was dead.

***

They weren’t the only ones who decided to call it a day. It turned out there were numerous people who had been wandering around that side of the country and it looked like that particular motel had been the only one for miles around.

The first warning should have been the fact that it had taken Levi and Hange minutes to navigate a pretty small parking lot, just to find a place to fit the car. The second warning should have been the amount of lit up windows.

At that point, they were both exhausted and Levi had focused too clearly on the ‘open’ sign.

Open 24 hours.

So he didn’t waste any time. Hange didn’t either. It was cold, it was raining and Levi could forget that it was too early in September for him to have been shivering, for white fog to be accompanying his shuddering breath.

It was his first time up north, autumn came much earlier. That didn’t stop him from grumbling silently about why autumn rains had to be so cruel.

It was barely even autumn. Shitting on the weather proved to be an adequate consolation for their very uncomfortable state.

Hange seemed unsure and maybe she had heard his grumbles, maybe she had assumed it was about her. “I’ll check if they have any rooms,” Hange said, an apologetic smile on her face. She looked down towards his elbow. “And I’ll ask for a first aid kit, so we could do something about that.”

His body had been a conglomeration of discomforts since a while ago and the bleeding scrape on his elbow had been a terrible surprise. Not so terrible actually as he looked closer, he barely even felt it.

Before he could stop her, Hange had went ahead to the reception, covered in mud and all. Levi was grateful at least that they both had cleaned their shoes on the way in. The headache would be left to whoever would be cleaning their car.

The man at the counter was apologetic, a little too nice and he spoke to Hange like he was talking to some higher figure. It was a simple back and forth.

They were guests, he worked in hospitality. It was a natural exchange.

Maybe Levi had just been a little perceptive because everyone seemed to approach Hange with some unique form of respect. After a brief back and forth, Hange turned back to Levi, a flash of uncertainty on her face.

Just a flash. Before Levi could perceive more, it disappeared.

Levi still saw that as a cue to follow behind. “What?”

“So there is only one room left, towards the back...” Hange started.

“Apologies about this…” The receptionist bowed his head. “The roads get slippery… And it’s dangerous to go out so many people….” He was babbling at that point and all Levi wanted him to do was get to the point.

Hange let out a sigh then dropped her credit card on the table. “We’ll take it.”

“You managed to get a room, why is he apologizing?” Levi asked, turning to the comparably more coherent Hange Zoe.

“Well, there’s only one room left,” Hange responded.

“And?”

“There’s only one bed.” Hange had said that part with a straight face. She huffed and put one muddy finger up in front of him. “But you know, I really think we can make this work...”

#levihan #levihan fanfiction

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writingformymentalhealth · 3 years

Text

Chapter 5

The Black Brothers

Josephine Fawley or as her brother liked to call her the tomboy Princess had a striking romance with Hogwarts very own Pureblood rebel Sirius Black.

Sadly her parents deemed his Brother the so called Slytherin Prince as a better fit and arranged a marriage with the younger Black.

Tw: Arranged marriage, possible smut, swear words, lots of fluff, angst, mentions of abuse and depression,

Part 1

Wattpad link

Masterlist

The Newts went by in the blink of an eye and before any of them knew they were back at the platform 9 3/4.

“I will miss you so bad,” Isa said and Joey’s insides felt warm. Isa wasn’t one for sentimentalities usually and having her openly talk about missing her made her happier than she would ever admit.

“I’ll miss you too, Isa.” She said, pulling the girl in a quick hug.

“Hey Isa, don’t steal away my girl,” Sirius’ voice said from behind, earning him a playful shove from Joey.

Isa waved a last time before going to look for her parents, leaving the couple to bid their goodbyes.

“Farewell Princess.”

“We’ll see each other at the next boring pureblood ball.”

“I’ll still miss you like crazy.” His hand cupped her cheek, making a blush creep up on her. How could he make her feel this way, even after all these years?

And then kissed her. He kissed her like it was the last kiss they ever shared.

After pulling back, both teens were slightly panting.

“I’ll miss you too, Black”

“Write to me, love.”

“Every day.”

And with a last playful wink the boy disappeared between the people, going to find his parents - or hiding from them.

Just seconds later, Quentin appeared next to the girl.

“Let’s go, mum and dad will be waiting.” He said, nudging her.

It only took the twins minutes to find their parents chatting with the Malfoys, and even though Quentin’s expression remained rather neutral, Joey could practically feel her brother’s blood boil at the sight of Lucius.

Their Mother was the first one to see the twins hugging them both and mumbling something about having missed them. Their father just nodded at the scene, bidding his goodbyes to the Malfoys.

“We have something to tell you when we come home.” Cordelia whispered to her children before grabbing Joey’s hand.

Joey and Quentin exchanged a look.

With a plop the family landed back at the Fawley residence and Joey inhaled the familiar scent of Lavender and Moth balls that always seemed to linger in the old house and didn’t pay much attention to her mother asking for a teatime with the family to discuss ‘important matters’. At least until Quentin took her hand, and she felt just how clammy and sweaty his hand was.

“It will be alright Quen.”

He shook his head. And Joey prayed they weren’t going to tell her that his depression got worse.

With a weird feeling in her stomach, she made her way to the sitting corner in which the Fawley family always drunk their tea, carefully pulling Quentin behind, who seemed almost frozen into place.

Their parents sat opposite to them, both seeming suspiciously smiley.

“What’s up?” Joey asked, not able to take the tension anymore.

Her mother inhaled sharply before letting her catlike green eyes meet her daughters. “We arranged a marriage for you, Josephine.”

“You what?” The siblings asked simultaneously.

“We arranged for you to marry a respectable pure blood gentleman.” Her father explained, not looking his children in the eyes.

“Absolutely not.”

Her mother pursed her lips. “I fear you don’t have a choice, Darling.”

“You were always against that bullshit,” her brother spat, his voice being louder than ever.

“Things change, circumstances change.” Their father said, just earning a scoff from his son.

“It is the best for all of us.”

“Not for me.”

Her mother looked at her sadly, “You don’t have a choice.”

“Oh hell, yes I do.” Joey screamed, standing up, running into her room, still faintly hearing her brother argue with her parents.

In her room she pulled out her trunk, chaotically throwing clothes, pictures and other prized possessions in it. She didn’t know where she was going to go, but she knew she needed to go. Hot tears streamed down her face, she always thought her parents were different, sure most pure blood families had some weird beliefs about keeping their blood pure therefore arranged marriage looked like the best thing to do, but her parents always seemed to accept that their children would go their own way.

A faint knock on the door alerted the girl of her mother’s presence.

“Can I come in?”

“In your words, I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“We made a deal with the family years ago,” her mother sighed suddenly looking decades older, “we promised them you would marry their son in exchange for safety from the dark Lord.”

“What has Voldemort to do with all this?” her Mother flinched by the mention of his name.

“The family is very close to him. They inform him about blood traitors, eventual followers and all that.”

“So I don’t have a choice?”

“Not if you want your loved ones to live.” Her Mother said simply giving her daughter a reassuring squeeze before going out of the room leaving Joey at a complete loss.

After the initial shock, there was only one thing on her mind: Sirius.

She fidgeted with the silver ring on her left hand, knowing that she always wanted to marry him, spend her life with the boy she loved above everything else, and now she would have to face a relationship like Narcissa had with Lucius.

The lump in her throat grew bigger and bigger, and she barely noticed the tears streaming down her face mercilessly.

Perhaps the worst heartbreak isn’t getting broken up with, perhaps the worst heartbreak is knowing you have to break up with someone who you still love with every fiber of your body.

Two days had gone by, but Joey didn’t even seem to notice. Everything went on in a blur and no words from Isabella, who she wrote to immediately nor her brother, could pull her out of her misery.

“You know you need to break up with him, don’t you?” Her brother just asked, while soothingly drawing circles on her back.

“Isabella said I should break his heart really bad to make it easier for him,” Joey scoffed, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

“That’s a terrible idea, even for Isabella.”

“You just say that because you hate her. She said, I should just tell him I am in love with someone else.”

“Josephine, don’t do it, please. People will know about the arranged marriage just like they know about Lucius and Narcissa.”

“I could still love him though.”

“Sirius isn’t stupid - not that stupid at least.”

“If I tell him the truth he would try to fight the bloke in some deathly duel or something,” she laughed humorlessly, “he’d do anything for me.”

“You don’t need to tell him a reason to break up with him.”

“Don’t you think I owe him one?”

Her brother stayed silent, engulfing her in a hug, while her tears left a wet patch on his shirt. Quentin knew better than to argue with his sister. She already made up her mind.

Joey had asked Sirius to meet her at the park bench he once gave her the promise ring at. Her face was stoic, almost unreadable. She knew she couldn’t show weakness in front of him. She couldn’t make him question her decision. She needed to be confident and cold.

She already saw him from afar, his long hair hanging in his eyes while he comfortably sat in the grass even though a perfectly intact bench was right next to him.

As soon as the boy saw her his eyes lit up and he stood up to hug her, but she took a step back making his eyebrows snap together in confusion.

“We need to talk.” She said instead of a greeting slowly making her way to the bench.

“What’s wrong, love?”

She forced herself to look into his concerned eyes that were so full of love for her and she knew Isabella was right. She would have to break him so he could let her go.

“I am breaking up with you.”

Sirius’ eyes widened in disbelief, his hands fidgeting with each other like they always did when he got overwhelmed, and Joey had to resist the urge to hold them.

“Why? Joey we can fix this I-“

“I made my decision.”

He swallowed hard, and she saw tears starting to pool in his eyes.

“Why?” He asked again, his voice cracking.

“I found somebody else.” She said simply, not daring to look into the stormy grey eyes she was still very much in love with, “and I am in love with him.”

“I love you.” Sirius said, his voice barely above a whisper and it took everything in Joey not to say it back.

“I should go.” She said, not waiting for an answer before standing up and taking fast steps towards the point she knew she could Apparate away in safety. A small part of her hoped he would run after her, tell her he saw through her act, tell her he knew how to get out of it but he didn’t so she let the tears that she was holding in since the moment she saw him sitting next to the bench fall but to her surprise she didn’t feel the hurt anymore. Instead, her heart felt cold, as if it was made of ice or as if someone had just burst through her rib cage and taken it out, leaving only an empty space.

Sirius Black felt like he was having a heart attack, and for a short second he thought about admitting himself into St mangos hospital but he came to the conclusion that maybe having a heart attack right now wouldn’t be too bad because the one person he trusted and treasured over anyone else made his worst fears come true. He knew he was always jealous, but that was just because he knew deep inside that a guy like him could never keep a girl like her. That a girl like Josephine didn’t settle for family disappointments with lots of baggage, but he still tried and for a brief moment he thought he could be happy. Now he knew that some people just aren’t meant to be happy.

For the first time since the couple started dating, Sirius lit up a cigarette, inhaling the deathly smoke deeply, hoping that it would kill the sadness in him.

Sirius Black’s world became dull that day.

Unbeknownst to both they had the same essential question running through their head, ‘who is this other guy’ but while Sirius would have to wait some time till his question got answered, Joey had the option to confront her parents.

Of course she could have done this earlier, but she had to admit she was scared of the answer. She knew most pureblood families and couldn’t say she particularly liked them. Additionally a family that was close to the Dark Lord was bound to be involved in the dark arts and at least to some extent evil.

She shuddered at that thought; she heard all the stories about arranged marriages - the regular rape, the abuse and the fear and she wasn’t keen on joining that club. So when she saw her Mother that day ready to confront her - she couldn’t.

She couldn’t bring herself to ask.

Actually, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything besides lay in bed and sleep, she didn’t even have it in her to cry anymore. Even after her Mother informed her she was going to meet her future husband for dinner, she didn’t have it in herself to react.

In the end it was her brother who brought back the girl’s spirits on the day of the dinner.

“Oh no, you are not meeting your future husband looking like that.”

“Why? He has to marry me, anyway.” Joey said, rolling over.

“Go shower. Now. You smell, and if you don’t shower, I will conjure a bucket of ice water and shower you myself.” He said while rummaging through her closet.

Joey frowned, not being used to her brother being so authoritarian, but she did as he said, too tired to argue with him.

Even though she would never admit it, the shower did make her feel better, and the dress her brother chose made her feel like a real life princess.

“You have to do your clown paint on your own, I have no idea what that stuff is.” He said gesturing to her makeup and for the first time in eleven days Joey chuckled.

She was just doing her eye makeup as her mother came in, a sad smile decorating her face. “You never asked who.”

“Does it matter?” Joey asked, applying mascara.

“It’s Regulus Black.”

Joey almost poked her eye out as she heard that. Her heart hammered desperately against her chest.

“Why not Sirius?” Quentin asked the question Joey wanted to ask so desperately. “Isn’t he the oldest?”

Her mother made a sound with her mouth, “We discussed this matter but Sirius and his family have a complicated relationship, they want regulus to make the proud.”

And Joey felt like her heart broke all over again. She was so close to getting what she wanted, yet destiny had ripped it away from her again. If this was a story, the Author had to be downright cruel to put her through this.

At the Black Mansion Sirius - for the first time in his life felt completely and utterly broken. Hot tears ran down his face, and he couldn’t contain the sobs coming out of his mouth.

He almost didn’t notice his Mother coming in hitting him with the stupid Black family ring she was so proud of turning it outward so it would leave deep cuts on his cheeks.

“Crying is something for muggles and weaklings. Not for Blacks.” She screeched, but he didn’t care, he never cared for anything his parents wanted or said, he only cared for her and his friends and maybe Regulus even though his loyalty to their parents could be infuriating sometimes.

“We have guests this evening. If you aren’t on your best behavior, I will crucio you right in front of them.” His mother sneered, and Sirius knew from experience that she meant what she said.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?” His Mother grabbed her wand and Sirius bit his lip till it started bleeding.

“Yes, ma’am.” he grumbled quietly, just hoping that she would disappear soon so he could be sad in peace.

Walburga strutted out of the room, locking the door behind her, making Sirius sigh.

He looked around his room trying to ground himself, the red gryffindor flags, the muggle band posters from bands he didn’t know just to spite his mother, the pictures of the Marauders and of course the pictures of Joey that he didn’t yet have the heart to take down, her smile illuminating the whole room even through a picture. Tears filled his eyes again, yet he didn’t dare to cry. Instead, he got out his wand, muttering some spells to heal the wounds.

A few hours later Sirius was well aware of how horrible he looked, skin pale, deep rings under the eyes and his usually shiny hair hanging matted over his eyes, this look being further enhanced while standing next to his brother who looked more and more like Sirius every day, sharing his aristocratic features. But other than Sirius;, Regulus looked amazing, his tie in place, his hair combed and his shoes cleaned.

Sirius saw the disgusted face his mother gave him before gushing about Regulus and he couldn’t help but feel accomplished at his disheveled appearance that hopefully would disgust any weird poor blood family her mother invited for today.

“Adrian, Cordelia! How nice to see you.” Walburga greeted, making Sirius’ blood run cold at the mention of Joey’s parents’ names; and really just behind the two middle-aged wizards and next to Quentin, the girl of his dreams, stood. Her usually wavy hair was curled and neatly pinned up, leaving just a few strands to frame her beautiful face.

Sirius stood there frozen as the other people greeted each other. Joey stiffly shook his hand. Her eyes looking cold and disinterested, just like the first time Sirius saw her at the pureblood ball.

Joey, on the other hand, felt immensely grateful for her brother standing beside her, as she didn’t know where she should look. She was scared to look in Regulus eyes seeing the familiar cold and steely gaze of her future husband and even though she wanted to, she knew looking in Sirius’ eyes would just open up a Pandora’s box of feelings.

The dinner went over like a blur, Walburga asking lots of questions that were being answered politely, mostly by Cordelia.

As dessert came - crème brûlée, finally the point of the entire dinner was made clear.

“Josephine, Regulus, as you both know we arranged a marriage between you two, binding two of the most pureblood families together by law.” Orion said, his voice cold and calculated just like Regulus’ voice was. Sirius started coughing uncontrollably, choking on the water he just tried to drink, earning himself dirty looks from the pureblood parents, Orion especially looking at Sirius like Walburga looked at discounter clothes. “Don’t mind my son, he doesn’t take news like a gentleman, another reason why we chose regulus over him.”

Joey looked up from her plate - the first time this evening and her mask broke for a short second and Sirius saw how deeply horrified she looked before she went back to smiling politely with the same cold disinterested eyes every pureblood kid learned to have at a young age.

“We expect you to be a pleasant couple till you marry, no drama or other nonsense.” Orion continued.

“Josephine, darling, I suspect your parents already informed you about the risks of acting out?” Walburga asked, and Joey’s stomach turned at her sickly sweet voice. Her eyes automatically found Sirius’ for comfort, but his eyes were clouded with shock and something Joey could only interpret as realization.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Very well, how about you two go up to Regulus’ room to get to know each other better, while we discuss the details of the engagement party?”

Regulus nodded wordlessly, taking his future fiancée’s hand leading her up the stairs so familiar of the noble house of black, into his room.

It was the first time that Joey saw a room except the ball room and Sirius’ room and she was impressed at how unimpressive the room looked. The walls were empty except a Slytherin flag over his bed; the room was almost hauntingly neat, and she didn’t see even one personal item.

“I apologize for all of this.” Regulus said, looking at the stoic girl in front of him.

“No need to apologize.” She whispered, her voice sounding hoarse as she took in the room, looking anywhere but into the boys’ eyes.

“I’m sure no girl wants to have that kind of proposal.”

She chuckled at the absurdity of his words, sitting down on his bed, surprised at the softness of the mattress, yet shuddering at the thought of her having to have sex with him on that mattress - or anywhere, for that matter.

“We are practically engaged and you don’t even know my favorite color.” She said, looking into his eyes for the first time this evening.

There was a deep breath, and then Regulus sat beside her.

“Josephine-“

“Why are you marrying me?”

He looked shocked at the question and Joey wished she could take the words back, knowing that she crossed a line and being basically the property of Regulus now, she should maybe at least try to keep the comments to herself.

“Josephine, it’s what our parents want from us.”

“Nobody calls me Josephine, except my parents.” Joey whispered, her voice restrained from the fear pulsing through her body.

“I know, but I didn’t know if you wanted me to call you that.”

Joey looked into his steely eyes, and they looked surprisingly soft and understanding. And a small glimmer of hope tugged at her heartstrings.

“Why do you care what I want? Am I now not your property?” The words came out harder than she intended, and Regulus flinched slightly.

“I’m not a monster.”

Joey stayed silent.

She was glad, as Walburga called them downstairs, looking at them as if she just won the lottery.

“Splendid news, we will hold the engagement party in one week.”, Joey forced a smile but by the falling face of Walburga she could already tell that it came out more like a grimace, “and the even better news is that you will spend all summer with us so you and Regulus can bond and have some appearances as a couple before you marry.”

Joey’s stomach turned. Spending all summer with the guy they forced her to marry, her ex boyfriend who still gave her butterflies and their psychopathic parents sounded like a nightmare.

“We will have a guest room ready.” Orion added coldly, and from the corner of her eye she saw Sirius exhaling in something that looked like relief.

“Oh no, we aren’t in the eighties anymore. She can sleep in Regulus room, they can practice for their wedding night.” Walburga grinned wolfishly, and Joey felt so sick she was sure she would throw up all over the carpet.

Masterlist

Part 6

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feigeroman · 3 years

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Station to Station (funk to funky...)

So, spurred on both by one of my previous headcanon posts getting liked and reblogged by @mean-scarlet-deceiver (who is totally awesome - go check them out), and by The Unlucky Tug’s magnum opus of a video essay about his take on the Island of Sodor (check it out below, and then check him out - both are totally awesome), I decided it’d be a fun idea to share some of my own headcanons about Sodor. Most of these are things I remembered while watching the video, which you can see here...

youtube

...And I’ll be presenting them in the order I remembered them. The video isn’t strictly necessary to understand this post - I just wanted to share it. It’s also worth having a copy of the Sam Wilkinson map (mentioned in the video) to hand, as it’s what I used as the basis for my take on Sodor. Yes, I know it’s a bit of a clusterfuck, but so is my version of the timeline, so...

***

1) Knapford is Tidmouth, and Elsbridge is Knapford

What do I mean by this? Well, what the RWS calls Tidmouth, the TVS calls Knapford. And what the RWS calls Knapford, the TVS calls Elsbridge.

Confused? I certainly was the first time I tried typing that! I’ll just explain the headcanon:

Basically, I go with what the RWS says. In other words, what the TVS calls Knapford, I call Tidmouth (incidentally, I prefer this version with the big yard alongside)...

...And what the TVS calls Elsbridge, I call Knapford. I know this shot doesn’t really show the station, but I decided the yard in the background is part of Knapford as well.

2) Which harbour is which?

This is somewhat similar to HC1, in that I’m changing up some of the names of established locations. There are many docks and harbours on Sodor, but the show mainly focuses on Brendam (and either Knapford or Tidmouth in earlier seasons). Those locations change drastically from season to season, and I wanted to account for most of the various appearances. So in no particular order:

For Tidmouth Harbour, I use the current Brendam Docks (though my headcanon is something nearer to the real-life Southampton Docks).

For Knapford Harbour, I use a mix of S2 Knapford Harbour and S3B Brendam Docks Just imagine that the former evolved into the latter over time.

For Brendam Docks, I use the S2 Brendam Docks.

I’ve loosely based Arlesburgh and Kirk Ronan on the real-life Bristol and Weymouth harbours, respectively.

3) Two or three-track mind

Okay, this was something I only thought up after seeing Tug’s video. He points out that the number of tracks tends to vary between sets, and he decides on the following:

Three tracks means it’s somewhere on the main line.

Two tracks means it’s a branch line.

One track means it’s either the far end of a branch line, or a freight-only line.

However, he also makes the point that some parts of the main line are inexplicably double-tracked, such as Cronk Viaduct (which he moves to Wellsworth, but that’s neither here nor there):

In cases like this, my headcanon is that the main line was originally completed as a double-tracked railway, with most of it being upgraded to triple-track later on. Obviously it may not have been possible or feasible to upgrade certain sections, hence them being left as double-track.

4) Lower Tidmouth

Now here’s one that I really like. This unnamed station from The Three Railway Engines was christened Lower Tidmouth by the TVS modelmakers. It’s located between Tidmouth and Knapford, and sits on the southern outskirts of the former town. Even though Tidmouth is a pretty large town - especially in my headcanon - its main station seems to cope well enough on its own, so why this extra station?

My headcanon is this: During the War, Tidmouth would most likely have been of great strategic importance, with its harbour and rail links - and therefore a prime target for air raids. Just in case the main station was bombed out of action, Lower Tidmouth was constructed just outside what was then the edge of the city, to serve as a temporary passenger terminus. After the War, the rudimentary station was given a major upgrade, after it was discovered that many people living to the south of Tidmouth found it more convenient than the main station.

5) Lower Tidmouth Tunnel

A much smaller idea now. This short tunnel is located between Tidmouth and Lower Tidmouth, and I just want to say I like to imagine that this looks the same as Henry’s Tunnel does in the TVS - two tracks in one bore, one track in the other. The only difference is that it’s built from red brick, as shown here.

6) Some ideas above Edward’s Station

This is a double-barrelled headcanon concerning Wellsworth. One concerns the station itself, and the other concerns its goods yard.

Firstly, the station itself. There’s been a lot of debate about which way round it should be. Should the footbridge be at the western or eastern end? Personally, I think it should be at the western end. My reasoning is that that would allow the bay platform siding (where Henry is in the above picture) to be at the eastern end, facing towards Gordon’s Hill. I assume that’s where Edward would normally be stabled when he’s waiting to bank trains up the hill. I just think it’s more convenient on that front.

As for the goods yard?

Well, I think this is Wellsworth Yard. That’s it. That’s the headcanon.

7) The Parkway Stations

This next headcanon concerns a rather obscure part of the Sodor railway geography - namely, these two tiny stations on the main line.

These stations serve the tiny villages of Balladrine and Kellaby respectively - though, in true railway fashion, they’re actually located some distance from the communities they serve. My original idea was to go down the usual route and just add the suffix Road to the station names, but then I was struck by a flash of real-life inspiration.

In the 1970s, British Rail opened a number of park-and-ride stations, which basically means you drive to the station, park your car and continue your journey by train. They usually have the suffix Parkway, as the first one was built close to the M32, which is also known as the Bristol Parkway.

Anyway, that’s the gist of this headcanon. The North Western jumped on this Parkway bandwagon around that same time, allowing people from the villages to either drive or catch a bus to the stations, and then catch a train to wherever.

8) The new Kellsthorpe Road

In my own personal timeline (which is a whole other headcanon in itself), Season 8 takes place in 1976, and it’s during this season that we see Kellsthorpe Road being built. Obviously the station had existed since the railway was built, so what’s with this new one?

Well, I like to think this was actually a relocation to somewhere more convenient for both the town and the junction with the Kirk Ronan branch.

9) Crovan’s Gate and other small works

I already touched upon this idea before in my Victor’s Haulage Truck headcanon, but if you haven’t read that, it goes like this:

I’m not a huge fan of the Steamworks and Dieselworks being separate facilities in separate locations. I just think the RWS version of Crovan’s Gate makes more sense, seeing as you would want all your major repair equipment and facilities to be concentrated in one location.

That being said, I wouldn’t say all this sort of work should be concentrated at Crovan’s Gate. It’s implied in the RWS that more minor repairs are carried out at smaller workshops across the rest of the system - I’d assume these are located at all the major engine sheds, and that there’s at least one on each branch line. These would also be useful for when there’s more work than Crovan’s Gate can take on at once.

10) The Sheds

Speaking of sheds, I have a handful spread across my version of Sodor. Basically, I have a couple at each end of the main line, and one on each of the branch lines. And since the highest operating district number in real life was 89 (for Oswestry), I’m gonna say all of the NWR’s engines are allocated to District 90, covering all sheds on the region:

Tidmouth (90A)

Knapford (90B)

Crovan’s Gate (90C)

Vicarstown (90D)

Barrow In Furness (90E)

Arlesburgh (90F)

Ffarquhar (90G)

Brendam (90H)

Peel Godred (90I)

Kirk Ronan (90J)

Great Waterton (90K)

Norramby (90L)

11) Dryaw Goods Station

Alright, this one is more about a specific episode than a location, but I thought it was worth throwing into the mix. This goods station only appeared in Thomas Gets Bumped, and nobody is quite sure where it’s meant to be. Some people say it’s Hackenbeck. Others say it’s Toryreck. Me? I’ve always thought of this as the original Dryaw Station, on what is now the Harbour line on the Ffarquhar branch.

I say this because the surrounding scenery matches what’s shown on the map, and it makes sense for a freight-only station to be located on what is now a freight-only line. But if that’s the case, why does Thomas seemingly pass through daily with his passenger train?

I toyed with the idea of Thomas being there because he’s pulling a workers’ train, but then I came up with something better. In my personal timeline, this episode takes place during the initial construction of Knapford Harbour, and the new passenger line with it. More specifically, during a brief interim period between the closure of the original Dryaw to passengers, and the opening of the new passenger line.

12) The Sports Field Halt

At the end of the Sodor Explained video essay, Tug admits that he couldn’t think of anywhere to put this station from Three Cheers For Thomas.

Sam Wilkinson’s map places this halt just south-west of Elsbridge, and that’s where I’ve decided to place it too. Not just because it’s semi-canon, but because do you know what other location is just south-west of Elsbridge?

Yes, this cricket field. In my headcanon, I’ve merged these two locations together. Makes sense, right? They’re both sports related things, next to an embankment, and just south-west of Elsbridge. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch, and you can always imagine the halt is a request stop serving the sports field.

***

Alright, I think that’s enough headcanons for one post. Firstly, because I underestimated just how much I had to talk about. And secondly, I’ve always said it’s not wise to put all your eggs in one basket. It’s much more sensible to just put out a short thing, let it simmer for a while, and then finish off the rest later.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this post. I certainly enjoyed finally getting all these thoughts out there. Stay cool, stay safe, and I’ll share the rest of my thoughts at some point in the future (even if they are as insane as the ones I’ve already shared so far!)...

#Thomas The Tank Engine #The Railway Series #ttte headcanon #sodor #island of sodor #North Western Railway

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ya-like-space · 4 years

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Oranges, A Warm Summer’s Breeze, and Home

Souji didn’t want to leave. In the short year he was there, Inaba had become his home. The only place he’d ever felt like he truly belonged. As he watched his friends and family grow farther and farther away from the train window, tears slowly started to run down his cheeks. He’s leaving behind the best thing that’s ever happened to him. When the platform was no more than a speck in the distance, Souji sat back in his seat. Closing his eyes, he drifts off to sleep.

He wakes up hours later to a station announcement. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he grabs his bag from the overhead. Stepping off the train, a rush of emotion hits him. It hadn’t been long since he’d been in Tokyo, but it felt like forever. It all felt wrong. A sense of unfamiliarity flowed throughout him as he walked through the busy streets. Compared to Inaba, everything was so much bigger.

Dreading walking into his parent’s apartment again, Souji stood outside the door, counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ...10. Upon reaching 10, he flung open the door. Duffel bag in hand, he raced quickly and quietly to his bedroom. His parents weren’t home, and wouldn’t be for another two days. Couldn’t even make it home to greet their own son. Setting his bag down, he flopped onto his bed. He didn’t want to unpack, knowing if he did, the reality of the situation would set in. Instead, he settled for glaring at all the boxes already in his room. They had arrived days prior.

He can still remember how hard it was for him to pack. A part of him wanted to leave everything there, exactly how it was, so when he came back it would all be the same. But the rational part of him had won out, and he called Yosuke over to help him. Though it probably hadn’t been necessary, Souji had wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. They had gotten all of the things he was taking with him packed in only an hour. Leaving them the rest of the day to spend with each other. Not wanting to be in his empty room anymore, Yosuke had suggested they take a walk to the Samegawa. Or at least, that’s what Souji thought was going to happen.

Yosuke had confessed to him. Down by the riverbank, in the same place they had their fight. He had broken down when they got there, spilling his heart to Souji. Yosuke kissed him that day, arms looped around Souji’s back, hands in his hair. They walked home together hand in hand, tear tracks still visible on Yosuke’s cheeks.

Souji already misses Inaba, and he’s barely been in Tokyo an hour. It wasn’t fair that he had to leave. That he had to go back to an empty apartment, to parents who were never home, to parents who used him, and a new school of people who don’t know what he’s been through.

That night, Souji dreamt of a warm embrace and a rushing river.

Even though he really didn’t want to, Souji began unpacking his stuff. He started with the duffel bag, which was mostly empty. Other than a few changes of clothes, and his toiletries.

But when he opened the first box, instead of the muted black of the old t-shirt that Souji had thought would be on top, there was a rumpled lump of orange fabric on top, which was revealed to be a very familiar hoodie when he pulled it out of the box by one sleeve. It was one of Yosuke’s hoodies, the one he’d been wearing when he’d helped Souji pack up his room, in fact. Tears begin streaming down his face. Souji lifts the hoodie out of the box, burying his face in it. It smells like oranges, a warm summer's breeze, and home. He stays like this for a while, before attempting to compose himself. Flipping over the hoodie, he sees something that was previously hidden. A little pink sticky note, stuck to the underside of the cloth.

I’ll miss u partner <3

That breaks him. Souji crumples into a ball on the floor, unable to stop sobbing. A good 10 minutes go by before he can even think again. When he finally manages to collect himself, he gets an idea. His parents arrive tomorrow, so he’ll have to leave early in the morning. He buys a one way ticket to Inaba, and repacks all of his things. This has to work. Before he goes to bed, he sends a text to Dojima, telling him about the plan. Dojima immediately agrees, telling Souji he’ll pick him up from the station tomorrow.

Souji gets up the next morning, and writes a note to his parents. Placing it on the dining room table, it feels like a weight has been lifted from him. He walks back to the train station. On the ride back to Inaba, Souji wonders if he did the right thing. But then he looks down at the hoodie he slipped on that morning, before leaving. All doubts leave his mind at the first sight of orange. He rests his head against the window as the gentle rumbling of the train lulls him into a peaceful sleep.

When he wakes, the conductor is announcing Yasoinaba Station is only minutes away. Souji grabs his duffel bag and moves to the other side of the train. It’s almost like coming here the first time, with the empty compartment and empty station. He meets Dojima outside, getting into the passenger seat of the car.

“Hi.”

Dojima turns his head to look at him. Ruffling Souji’s hair he smiles, “Hey there kiddo. It’s good to see you.”

Souji smiles back at him.

“It’s only been a day,” he pauses, his expression softening slightly, “but I missed you too, Uncle.”

The drive back to the house is silent. But it’s the good kind of silence. The kind that calms you, and steadies your nerves. Souji’s half expecting to be bombarded by Nanako when they get inside, but instead, the house is dark.

“Nanako went to play at a friend’s house today. She should be home soon.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Souji had been excited to see his cousin, but he was fine with waiting. It would give him and his Uncle time to sort some things out.

“Now. Souji. Are you sure you want to do this? Because if you are,

I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done.”

Dojima wasn’t an idiot. He had seen the signs of abuse in his nephew when he had first arrived in Inaba, and as much as he would like to believe his sister wouldn’t do something like that, he knew it was true. And when Souji had sent him a message asking about this, well, he couldn’t deny it anymore. He cared about Souji, and wanted him to be safe.

“Yes. I’m sure. I don’t want to be a part of that family anymore, I don’t want to be treated like a doll, like I’m just there for their entertainment. I want to be here, with my real family.”

“That’s all I needed to know. Now let’s get this paperwork filled out.”

“Alright.”

Nanako arrived home hours after they had finished filing everything out. Her face had lit up upon seeing Souji.

“Big Bro!”

She jumped into him, squeezing her arms around his middle.

“What are you doing here?”

He smiles down at her.

“I decided I’m not going back to the city.”

“Yay!”

The three of them spent that night redoing Souji’s room, and eating take-away. Souji had decided he was gonna surprise Yosuke tomorrow. His shift at Junes ended at 3, so all he had to do was show up after it was over.

When Souji woke the next morning, Dojima was arguing with someone on the phone. Souji’s parents, most likely. He listened for a while, barely able to make out any of the words. They sounded angry, and he was glad that he didn’t have to deal with them. Dojima hung up the phone, finally noticing Souji.

“Hm? Oh, good morning Souji.”

“Are my parents angry?”

Dojima nodded, motioning for Souji to sit.

“They seem to think they own you, and that they reserve the right to control your every move.”

His expression darkened.

“Souji. You should’ve said something sooner.”

“I know. But I was afraid too.”

“Well, as long as you’re safe now.”

Souji smiled softly, “Yeah. I am.”

After speaking with his Uncle for a bit longer, and getting the last of the adoption papers filled, he headed to the Samegawa to kill time. It was a little hard getting there, since he nearly ran into Yukiko on the way. Souji wasn’t quite ready to tell the rest of the team he was in Inaba again, in case something went wrong. The only exception being Yosuke. He really wanted to see Yosuke again, but he had to wait. Souji spent the next few hours down by the riverbank, listening to the rushing water.

Before he knew it, it was almost 3, and Souji made his way to Junes. His plan was to wait near the back entrance, where Yosuke parks his bike. That way, if someone he knew was in Junes, they wouldn’t see him.

One minute. 30 seconds. 15 seconds. Now! Yosuke walked through the door, right on time. At first, he didn’t notice Souji was there. But then he saw him standing, right next to his bike. Yosuke barreled into him, laughing happily.

“Souji! What are you doing here?”

But then Souji said the best thing Yosuke had heard all day.

"I'm not going," suddenly Souji had him pushed up against a wall, and was kissing him. It wasn't a gentle kiss either, it was hard and demanding and so full of need that Yosuke started to feel a little dizzy.

"W-what?" he managed to stutter, utterly bewildered by the turn of events.

"Tell me you love me," Souji requested.

Now Yosuke definitely wasn’t expecting that, his face flushing a deep red. Souji was looking at him, but the look in his eyes was something Yosuke had never seen before. Something like panic, or desperation. For some reason Souji had come all the way back to Inaba, and the least Yosuke could do was grant this small request.

"I love you, Souji.”

Souji practically squeezed him to death in a hug, burying his face in the side of Yosuke's neck with a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob.

"Say it again," he repeated, voice muffled by Yosuke's shirt. Yosuke grinned, feeling warmth flow throughout him.

"I love you," he sighed, wrapping his arms around Souji in return.

There’s that smell again. Souji breathed in deeply. Oranges, a warm summer's breeze, and home.

Home.

He’s finally home.

@souyoweek2020 Day 6 | scent

One more day! I've had the idea for this fic in my head, ever since I finished the game for the first time. I always thought there should've been an ending where Souji got to stay in Inaba. This ended up being a tad bit heavier then i wanted, but it kind’ve took on a life of its own while I was writing it.

#souyoweek2020 #souyo #souji x yosuke #yu x yosuke #souji seta #yu narukami #persona 4 protagonist #yosuke hanamura #nanako dojima #ryotaro dojima #persona 4 #p4 #fanfic #fanart

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plus-global · 3 years

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HYBE Theory

Disclaimer: These are just my thoughts on HYBE the past few days and is definitely not confirmed. Please don’t take any of this to be true.

INTRODUCTION

On January 1, 2021, Big Hit Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as Big Hit) introduced a new boy group that will be debuting under their Japan subsidiary. The news has sparked some questions among PLUShies about whether the name “HYBE” will be for the new boygroup or not. According to recent trademarks from Big Hit Japan, it was discovered that the name of the boygroup will actually be &TEAM.

So in the midst of celebration among PLUShies, there were a few questions still being thrown around but the one main question was...

Is HYBE the name of the new girl group?

Theories and different takes on HYBE’s purpose made its way around Twitter and some of the popular ones include:

The name of the group to debut under Big Hit and Source Music

A social platform

Streaming service for music

But after running the service mark applications through a couple programs and watching both corporate briefings in 2020 several times, there’s another possible theory that we could consider.

BACKGROUND

I. HYBE Activity in Chronological Order

December 18, 2019

A little more than a month after the last PLUS Global audition in Ho Chi Minh City, Big Hit applied to trademark the name HYBE. [source]

October 7, 2020

Nearly a year later, Big Hit trademarked several other HYBE-related items including 2 different logos and 2 face-marks. [logo 1 source] [logo 2 source] [face-mark 1 source] [face-mark 2 source]

II. TRADEMARK CLASSIFICATIONS

If you look through each of the 5 trademarks, you’ll see that they’re listed under various Classes including 35, 38, 41, 42, 43, and 45. These are the identifications for those classes:

These classes are very similar to many projects and campaigns that I’ve helped with that provided “portable entertainment”. I remember one of the organizations dealt with a sort of an app and amusement park combo where the app can act as a map and an interactive game at the same time.

III. CORPORATE BRIEFING

During February 2020′s corporate briefing, CEO Lenzo Yoon introduced a new plan they were planning to roll out sometime in 2020. Around the 30:19 mark of the video, he starts talking about what Big Hit’s plans were to help innovate the fans experience.

Their first plan is to boost up customer service experiences at the various tour stops that BTS does. “We will turn cities hosting these concerts into a festival.” Big Hit plans to turn the places around the concert area into “tour villages” so that fans can enjoy both the show and play tourist by doing site seeing, pop shops, cuisines, etc.

Here’s the video to the corporate briefing:

youtube

MY REACHING THEORY

In all of trademarks above, you can see that the classes they have under them can possibly imply that HYBE might possibly be this tour village. When looking at the classes of each trademark, you’ll find that the two trademarks from October 2020 without the slogan WE BELIEVE IN MUSIC are listed in all 6 classifications.

The other two with the slogan is only listed 38, 41, 42, and 45. The two classes not included were 35 and 43, which includes the retail, dining, and accommodation services part of the brand. So there might be two parts of HYBE, one that deals with the show aspects while possibly broadcasting it and the other deals with the tour villages and the more social part.

The reason they didn’t roll it out is probably because the pandemic put a halt to some plans. It’s been known that Big Hit has been taking a business approach in a lot of the things the past year and a half, so it made sense to try to take the business-like theory approach instead of a Big Hit universe one.

PERSONAL TAKE

I personally would love the group name or label to be HYBE because I’ve gotten used to the word being used in most of our theories. Given that it would be a risk for Source Music and Big Hit to debut PLUS Global’s new girl group nearly the same time as Belift’s I-LAND girls, they have no choice but to debut PGNGG during Q1.

If Big Hit wants to take a business approach by introducing all these new groups under various sub-labels at once, they would need to do it properly by keeping both girl groups at least 9+ months from each others debut dates. There were several theories going around about parts of what I just covered and I definitely see why some thought it could be the label name. The classes they fall under seem to point that way so it’ll be exciting to see if it’ll actually be the sub-label name or a streaming app! Either way, we’ll be getting news soon about the girls, whether or not the HYBE name is involved.

#PLUSGirlsAreComing #PLUSGirlsROTY #watingforTHEGIRL

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

[1] [2] [3] [4]

#plus girls #plus global #plus auditions #big hit entertainment #source music #hybe #pgngg #plushies #theory #big hit theories #PLUSGirlsAreComing

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jaxsteamblog · 4 years

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First Date

Click here to read the full fic on AO3 (brief depiction of graphic violence)

It rained the entire weekend in Hira’a, so Zuko and Katara spent their time at Noren’s home. Katara watched in fascination one afternoon as Kiyi pulled out a broad canvas and she and Zuko sat cross legged on the floor looking at it. Zuko cupped his chin in a hand and tilted his head as Kiyi rattled off math and color theory. Eventually they got into a discussion on brush strokes so Katara got up to help Noriko with tea.

They watched movies, played board games, and helped around the house doing chores. It was the most mundane yet calming experience of Katara’s life.

After the weekend, she returned to school and things settled down a bit. People would ask her about the Avatar from time to time, but mostly the discussions were about the impending examinations.

Rohan sent her a video of Thuy at one of Toph’s matches, and Katara hadn’t seen such an expression of bi awakening since Sokka was introduced to the warriors of the North Pole.

[Do you think she knows?] Katara texted Rohan.

[She has no idea.] They replied.

More videos came as Thuy started her training; the Avatar cycle demanded that elements were taught in a certain order. So earthbending came first, and Toph proved to be a merciless, albeit chaotically so, master.

She called the Avatar “Wet Wipe.”

Katara sent videos back of her mountain of texts, or the weird things she saw happening in the library at 2 AM.

Zuko was less inclined to use social platforms than Rohan, but still managed to contact her just as much. He sent texts of new teas, or random parts of his day while in the palace. Those pictures were always a bit shocking; his long hair fell loose down his back save for his top knot, and his clothing was much more formal.

For some reason, when he sent her a picture of himself in his court robes, it made Katara blush.

Still, they texted in the morning and before bed, which was dancing at the edge of friendship and romance. It was frightening how long Katara would agonize over an emoji sometimes.

As midterms approached, everyone sent her encouraging messages or memes. Rohan was the best at making her laugh, so she had to resist pulling her phone out during study sessions. Thankfully, her concentration had gotten better since she started attending a PTSD group on campus. The exams still stressed her out, and her sleep schedule was still utter garbage, but at least now she had a plan.

After her final exam, she left out a breath and texted Zuko.

[So, date?]

The plan was a movie and then dinner. That way, Zuko informed her, they would have something to talk about while they ate.

“We might miss our show time.” Zuko said and Katara snorted.

“But we will absolutely have something to talk about.” She replied.

“Be quiet!” A man growled and Katara rolled her eyes.

The rope around her wrists rubbed against her skin painfully. When she leaned back, she felt Zuko’s back stiffen to support her. His hands and feet were encased in metal to keep him from firebending.

They had been grabbed in the parking lot. Zuko, lacking any sense of self-preservation, had gone for Katara as two men held her. This opened him up to the woman behind him, who slammed a baton into the back of his head. As he went down, one of the two men who held her dosed Katara with chloroform.

Waking up in the back of a van had been less than ideal.

“Look, you very clearly were not hired by my father, which means that you’re not of any real caliber of kidnappers to keep me here.” Zuko said. The woman who had knocked him out turned in the passenger seat to glare at him.

“And how do you know that, princeling?” She asked.

“Because you don’t know who my companion is.” Zuko said.

Without the full range of her arms, there was very little Katara could do in the way of bending. But she only had a little bit of liquid to work with anyway, so it didn’t matter.

“The Waterbender? We know your little girlfriend isn’t much of a fighter.” The driver scoffed.

Using her fingers, Katara called the blood from Zuko’s head wound. It came as a glob between her thumb and index finger, so she stretched it into a thin thread. Flicking it out, she mimed the act of sawing with her two fingers and the blood acted it out over the rope around her wrists.

It was going to take awhile.

“So what is it that you want?” Zuko asked. “Ransom?”

“Shut it pretty boy.” The woman hissed.

“Oh that’s original. Sure, make fun of the guy with the burn on his face. I know you’re criminals but do you have to be so insensitive?” Zuko retorted. The woman looked perplexed before turning to the driver.

“Did we get the right guy?” She asked.

“Excuse me, I am one in a million.” Zuko said, sounding offended. “I didn’t get this burn just to be treated like a commoner.”

Katara snorted again and almost lost her focus. She was about halfway through the rope and could feel the loosening.

“We know that your sister is going to train the Avatar and we don’t need that psycho corrupting her.” The driver said. “So you’re going to shut up and be a good little bargaining chip or else we kill your girlfriend.”

“Okay so one, she’s not my girlfriend, yet. We were planning on having a nice date, see how things went, and maybe she’d decide to go out with me again. We’re not rushing things here.” Zuko said and Katara smiled. “Secondly, I totally agree with you about Azula. Same page, totally get it. But, and I am not doubting your reasoning skills for a second, how is kidnapping me supposed to change my father’s mind about that?”

“Because if he wants you back alive, he’ll have the Avatar sent elsewhere for training!” The woman snapped.

“Look, where’s the other guy. He’s been quiet, I want to hear his thoughts on things.” Zuko said.

“We’re clear.” Katara said as she cut through the last loop of rope.

“Never mind.” Zuko said and swung up onto a knee. He slid behind the passenger seat and slammed his metal clad hands on either side of the woman’s head. As he heated the metal, she started to scream.

Katara, staggered by her bound ankles, reached out toward the dash. This was another trick she had picked up after her training with Hama and had been used to disable many vehicles during the war. It only worked when people had gotten lazy on upkeep, which was surprisingly frequent among the more far flung troops.

Closing her fists around the water source, Katara yanked her arms back, pulling water and coolant out of the engine. In a quick motion, Katara used the water to peel apart the metal around Zuko’s hands just as she had done to the factory in Jang Hui. Zuko then went to the driver, who had begun to swerve dramatically, and held a blade of fire by his face.

Katara froze herself to the floor of the van to keep from being tossed about while she cut off her last ropes and freed Zuko’s feet.

“Stop the van and we’ll let you go.” Zuko said, his voice low. As the driver seemed to debate the merits of listening to him, Katara went to the woman. She was huddled in the corner of her seat, whimpering and covering her burns with her eyes closed. Pulling water around her hands - making sure to completely discard the coolant - Katara called out the healing energy, making the water glow.

“What are you doing? Get away from her!” The driver said and the van jerked as Zuko brought the blade closer to his face.

“Don’t you worry what she’s doing. It’s leaps and bounds better than what I’m thinking of doing to you.” Zuko said.

Katara touched the woman’s face and she jumped, but didn’t move as the cooling sensation brought relief to her face.

“This will just take a second.” Katara murmured and the woman opened her eyes. She looked terrified.

“I’m a healer.” Katara added and tears welled in the woman’s eyes.

After a few moments, Katara pulled her hands away and the woman brought her hands up, shaking terribly, to her face. As she felt the unburned skin, she started to cry.

“Look,” Zuko said, sounding calmer. “There’s a noodle restaurant there. Stop and let us out.”

“Haruka, are you okay?” The driver asked.

“Y-yeah.” The woman said, still crying.

The driver grunted and jerked the wheel over, coming to a stop in front of a row of shops.

“Katara?” Zuko asked. Katara went to the side door, pulling it open. After she jumped out, Zuko dissipated the fire and followed after. He barely closed the van door before it pulled away, its tires screaming against the pavement.

“Well that was fun.” He remarked.

“Let me see your head.” Katara said with a sigh and Zuko obediently walked to her. She healed him, washing the blood out of his hair before tossing the water into the gutter.

“Hungry?” He asked.

“I could eat.” Katara said and they laughed.

“Does that happen to you often?” She asked as they started to walk to the shop. People who had stopped to stare at the van watched them go.

“Less than you’d think, but more than other people.” Zuko admitted. He reached the door first, opening it and standing aside. “After you.”

Katara walked in and saw steam burst from behind the counter. It was fairly pretty and smelled like warmth.

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#zutara #fanfiction #jax writes #modern au #zutara month 2020 #the fic that prompts built

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grumpy-zane · 4 years

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((Had a ninjago fan season idea that takes place after s13 and semi centers around Kai ninjago. This seasons theme: Vacation gone wrong! I have segmented it into episodes for convenience. I uh, may or may not dedicate some time to drawing content for this thing, so I apologize in advance. ((also it is. a long post.

Episode 1 - Answering machine going off and its’ Ronins voice over the machine: 'Looks like I’m gonna run late.. ugh this whole thing is falling apart isn't it. But we'll make it work. I got you a ferry to take you there, one of the cruise ships. It was the least I could do for now... I'll meet you there, I promise.' >Cuts to Dareth on the boat, taking him and the rest of the people to ‘Aves Isle’. >While everyone is getting off, Dareth helps a naga lady with carrying some of her stuff because Dareth ninjago. >Naga ladys' name is 'Olive', she is a semi native. She starts talking about the islands' history. 'there used to be a temple but we don't know what happened to it, but it sunk into the ground. >two investigate the area because Dareth has time to wait on Ronin. >Upon finding whats’ left of the area and entering, the atmosphere changes and inflicts a weird curse or whatever. >Dareth starts getting progressively more pushy Episode 2 - After s13 Wu wants to do more adventures so the bounty is just flying wherever the wind takes it I guess w/e {{Also realized I didn’t write much for Wu this entire rest of the story so I am assuming he’s having a grand ol’ time being on vacation}} >wow it is night time, the bounty is flying in >The crew ask where they are and Zane starts to go on his normal informative spiel before getting cut off. >Oh there’s a thing on the radar. What the heck is that thing flying towards us OH GOD THAT’S A BIG ANGRY DRAGON >Bounty has two smaller 'runner' boats? I guess? marketing. Two of the ninja hop on those and fly off. >Zane and Jay distract the dragon so the bounty can safely land but it turns out there are two dragons and Jay gets taken down first. Yay soft landing. >Bounty makes it safely over the fences that are on the island >Zane gets taken out. >Cuts back to Dareth and Olive still rooting around. activates something and wow a lava fountain. the ground is glowing in weird markings! >Dareth snaps at Olive and she wells up and runs away and Dareth snaps out of it temporarily like 'oh crud why did I do that I didn't mean to be so bossy' and goes after her >Olive gets overtaken and now: pointy. >Dareth tries to stop her but she jumps into the portal lava whatever? hole?? not sure. >He, of course, jumps in after. >Fire Dareth. >Random golden-looking platform chained to the bottom of the hole they are in. ominous voice: hey how about you get these locks free and we'll rebuild the temple? nice. >Temple platform rises >Zane gets tossed into an area? park? fenced in something or another?? >oh hi Jay >oh community service sorting trash from recyclables? can do.

Episode 3 - The remaining ninja visit the two who are in 'time out' before deciding to have a look around the island. >They take a nice walk down the beach Cole reminisces about the time Kai was extremely afraid of water >Kai frowns as a laugh track is played. Claims he has gotten better at it but screams when Nya splashes him. >Zane and Jay are done with service and its like 'okay how about we try to get out again?’ >Zane suggests doing it in the broad daylight since the dragons went out at night and may be nocturnal >they try >they get taken out again >another round of community service >sees another aircraft fall out of the sky >guard: wow more property damage. >sundown. lloyd notices that something strange is happening with some of the residents randomly getting more nippy and then not. strange. (Ninja get into an arguments with the locals or whatever) >Stop by community service area >Jay is now frustrated >rest recuperate at where they parked the bounty >Nya: well nothing is really going on here we can probably leave once the two are done breaking the law >Ronin shows up to the area and is greeted sourly by Jay ninjago

Episode 4 - The ninja are ready to leave when they notice a weird ominous structure that wasn't there before. >Crew investigate >oh its hot. you can go in, Kai ninjago >kai enters >oh frick fire dareth >kai ninjago, walking out and is krispy: there is a problem. >three get out of service >ronin asks if the little runner ships are 'truly' important >hekcin steals their engine or whatever >regroup at the bouty >Kai: hey uhh, Dareth is peeved haha, I don't get it though he and I hang out every now and then. >Ronin, internally: oh god he's really mad I didn't follow plans to a T- >the ninja exchange awkward glances of guilt >decide it'd be best to talk to him tomorrow, or try to. Also, more people are randomly getting upsetti, Jay is still frustrated.

Episode 5 - jay still has a bad attitude. lloyd is also starting to get upset. Cole tries to diffuse the situation but it causes the two to point their noses up at each other in silent anger. great. >Kai enters in the temple again, which is even more built than it was before. >Dareth being snarky >kai apologizes and tells him he wasn't aware of it, and that he thought the two were good friends, reminding him of the times they hung out outside of mission things. >Dareth calms down a bit >finds a reason to be mad again. >Ronin shows up >'ronin?' >''Told you I'd meet you here, what didn't you believe me? not really much of a vacation. How about we get some fresh air?" >Dareth approaches >oh no he's really hot. >cheek caress with the robotic arm. gae. >two head out. Room is no longer unbearably hot. good! >squad enters in. goes into one of the inner chambers >oh look the towns people overtaken by rage are building. nice. >oh no jay and lloyd are fighting again. >grabs attention of workers. >the ninja get their butts handed to themselves, and lose Jay and lloyd in the process. nice >cuts to Ronin and Dareth walking on the beach. >Ronin smooth talking, normal Ronin behvior >Flames and whatever fade from Dareth and he snaps out of it completely and immediately starts pouring out how he feels bad about being rude to Olive and whatever the bad guy is and what the plans of the temple are. >Ronin: maybe we should tell the ninja. I don't want us to get involved anymore.

Episode 6 - Ronin informs the ninja of what's up. >Nya: oh no we gotta stop this ! >Dareth: I want to help. >Ronin: no we are on vacation we shouldn't have to; leave it up to them. >Dareth: no I started this, this is my fault, I have to make it up to Olive and everyone <:( >Ronin: :/ >Zane: we should focus on. not making the locals angry because that seems to draw them towards the temple. >Ninja proceed to do good deeds, while part of them break off to do research >learn about the bad guy dunn dun dunn!

episode 7 - Kai ninjago somehow is the one keeping the most level head out of everyone here and things get tense again. is it potentially out of character? Well he's mad that lloyd and jay are overtaken but he's doing a good job at self control. >cuts to lloyd and Jay >lloyd: this is dumb! why are we helping!? We're supposed to be stopping this! >Jay: we're helping because YOU dragged us into this with your plan! >argue. great >bad guy laughing or whatever, oh the voice has a physical form that's manifesting from the heat of the temple. 'Good, soon I will be reborn and reclaim the island!' >Olive inform him that Dareth has broken the spell >bad guy furious and confused but is also like 'whatever we have a lot more important things to worry about' >Nya and Zane are stepping on each others' toes. >ronin and Dareth relay what they learned. >kai sitting in the bounty looking disheveled >'Human pinata makes the kids happy'. Horrifying. >story about how the bad guy was dispersed after 'other beings' landed on the island and taught he locals the importance of peace and not war or whatever. It was probably some Oni and dragons chillin. >Cole: oh! I mean we have two 'other beings' and those are the dragons, but they seem really angry and territorial >Kai: maybe they want something and just haven't gotten it? ((Id have to mention one of the festivals known as the 'laughing dragon' festival or whatever but it's fallen into obscurity due to the dragons not being happy. Mention that sometime during episode 3)) >investigation time part 3. >learn that there's a fruit that the dragons like, but the recipee was lost on how to make the disk for them >well gang, time to get cooking! thank goodness Zane is on our- >just kidding Zane and Nya are gone now because they got too angry at each other and went to 'get space' but they're probably at the temple now.

Episode 8 - Gotta do the cookin by the book! >the ingredients are gathered. >Dareth insists that they used a very speicific brand of exctact. >Cole has no idea how to cook well >Kai starts putting things together. >Cole: when did you learn to cook? >Kai: Well I had to take care of my sister buutt.. I dunno I think being the master of fire, cooking comes easy. ;) >Cole: if there's any way I can help just let me know. >kai: oh, yeah, bust open those things. >Cole literally smashes open the fruit sending bits everywhere >good ol happy comedic moment. >first try >Cole: . looks. uh. strange. >Ronin: I am afraid to taste it. >Dareth: oh I'm sure it can’t be- -face scrunch- >Kai: <:) >Dareth: well... I swallowed it.. at least.. >cuts to temple again >bad guy is like 'we need more people how come everyone stopped coming?? someone needs to go out and start beating people up >:(' >Olive reports that the ninja were gathering ingredients for something or another >Bad guy is like 'okay send some people there and stop them'

episode 9 - after the 5th attempt it's much more palatable so they make a larger batch and stick it in a boat all fancied up and now have to deliver it >oh god angry people >why are they looking at us hhh >fite >Kai: we legit cannot let any of this spill otherwise I'm going to scream. >only way to get it away from the people is to go by ocean >Ronin: we'll do what we can but you gotta do this kai. You're tough. >kai: ahaha I still don't like water but! >boat on water >gets to the part outside of the gate >oddly silent. >kai proceeds to put it on the beach and starts calling out for the dragons and starts making noise or whatever. "im gonna kick your sand! haha! what are you going to do about it??' >Dragons emerge, ready to fight >sees the offering. Kai: it's okay it's okay, this is for you. >backs away from the boat >lets the dragons have it. >the smaller one is curious about him and approaches him after >good ol’ kai dragon interaction. yay confidence!

Episode 10 - wow I sure do hate this sorting plant by now, thinks Ronin ninjago. >tossed in the sorting plant Cole: this isn't too bad. Dareth: yeah I thought we were going to be burned by the stake, haha! Ronin: oh you'll hate it soon enough. >Dareth and cole exchange glances. Cole: oh I know, how about we do a song, get a beat going? I'm sure kai has things under control! Dareth: good idea! Keep the spirits high, huh? >Olive informs that the offering made it out into the ocean >bad guy says 'no fear the ocean probably will swallow it', both unaware that kai was on the boat. >temple is nearing completion. >the angry ninja attempt yet again, to try to make a plan to stop him. >everyone has a different idea >they don't work together and go do their own plans. >lloyd tries to go after him directly >jay attempts to use his powers to get the workers to stop and go after him >nya yells at jay >Zane attempts to take out Olive, with mild success, kicks her out of the temple. >olive decides to visit in on the captives >glares at Dareth >Dareth proceeds to apologize profusely >Olive is stunned and snaps out of it, sorta. moment of clarity >apologizes for stopping their plan about the dragons. gives more detail about the situation inside the temple before getting ready to head back. >ronin. heckin. kidnaps her w/e He wants answers, and also doesn't want her relaying the information she gathered back to the bad guy. Dareth: oh my GOD did you KILL her?? Ronin: :B no messengers.

Episode 11 - The dragons fly overhead and do their little dance and show and yaay, the people are happy! >people working on the temple stop and notice in awe and decide to go outside to have a look. >bad guy takes notice and a n g r y, number of the workers stop and go enjoy the show. Some even going to their work areas and getting snacks and things like a festival. Bad guy: where is my messenger?! How did this happen?! steppin out. that's it, I'll deal with this personally. >bad guy stands on his temple top whatever. Starts blasting fire balls. >kai ninjago shooting fireballs back to deflect Locals: wow firework show! >even more stop their progress. >lloyd notices >the rest of the ninja notice. lloyd: woah kai ninjago..! Nya: I don't know how long he can last doing that.. Zane: the power comes from the temple.. Jay: so we have to sink the temple! >sink time >as the temple starts to submerge again the fire balls become weaker >bad guy adverts his attention to the ninja and decide to try to take them out >Kai ninjago shows up and they have a fire bending battle not ripped from avatar at all Jay: kai you gotta get outta there the temple is collapsing! Kai: I will give me a minute! >This is sparta kicks the dude into the portal thingy lava(?) and gets the heck outta there before everything falls in again. >yaay, we won! >mini celebration that's more like we gotta recover

Episode 12 - partially filler episode? w/e >actual festival held >good ol relaxing for real this time. >Dareth: that was fun! >Ronin: so much for a vacation, seems like trouble is always following you around. >Dareth: thank god I have you to protect me from it all, huh? >Ronin: wow gay >Dareth: also why did you run late? >Ronin: weeeeeell... that's a long story. B) I'll tell you on the flight back. >Olive: how did you find the recipe for the thing? >kai: I didn't I just... I mean, Well, when you have flare like me you tend to know how to make a good dish B) >Cole: he guessed and messed up 5 times. >Olive: oh- >kai: >:( c o l e >the ninja can actually leave now >FFIV victory fanfare

#ninjago #Mun rambles #will post the art separately for the sake of sanity #Aves Isle

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altalksaboutstuff · 4 years

Text

My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation Youtube Script Plus Notes

This is, more or less, the script for My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation video that I just published on Youtube: With the Xbox One and Playstation Four about to head out of the door to make ways for the Xbox Series X and the Playstation 5 respectively to lead us into the next generation of consoles were only Nintendo has been sitting comfortably with the Switch, the Wii U has been long gone and Nintendo also recently announced the official end of the Nintendo 3DS line cutting all the ties to this last generation. With that almost everyone is now releasing their lists of the best games of the current generation, myself included, I couldn't help but notice a lot of same-soundy lists such as Game Informer's top 5 list. I myself have to disagree with these, not to say that any and/or all five of those games on Game Informer's Top 5 aren't good, important or worth playing just that I don't think they are the best representative of this generation in terms of impact and wide appeal, so much as had the most money backing them. That these games on the list are more the best representative of the biggest Triple A titles. The games that I had in mind are more impactful on how this generation swayed and set new standards. I want you to keep in mind that while I liked some of these games, these aren't my personal top 5 of the past generation either but I think closer to what best represents our closing era of gaming, when I say the “best games of the current generation.”

First off I'd like to make an honorable mention of PT. PT or playable trailer was supposed to be a demo for the new Silent Hill S game that unfortunately never came to be for the Playstation 4 from Konami. A joint venture between film director Guillermo del Toro and the famous creator of Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima, this demo spooked the pants off of everyone and was probably the reason a lot of people decided to buy a Playstation 4. Unfortunately Konami let Hideo Kojima go under less than favorable conditions and the demo vanished with him in time. Since then the immersive, first person perspective horror game demo changed the landscape of what survival horror could be. We then saw Resident Evil VII by Capcom, the Park by Funcom, Layers of Fear by Aspyr and Death Standing by Hideo Kojima's new studio Kojima Productions that were all heavily influenced by PT (this point made more obvious for Hido Kojima's Death Stranding) and the future of Survial Horror / Suspense games seems to be headed there with upcoming games like Resident Evil VIII: The Village. The only reason this isn't officially on the list is because, well, it was sadly never a game but its influence was too important for me not to mention.

Number 5: Sonic Mania. Ok so Sonic Mania isn't anything new but it is very important in the sense that it is a major franchise, Sonic, by a well established publisher, Sega, and they had officially given the keys of Mobius to the fandom to make a new game and it was fantastic. While that's oversimplying things a bit errr a lot, since Sega just didn't come out of the blue offering that opportunity. Rather Sega saw a Sonic game pitched by Christian Whitehead, aka Taxman, who worked on porting previous ports of Sonic games to Mobile platforms. Why I think it is important is that this validating the bridge between fandom and passion projects in world where game hacks and fangames are traditionally shut down almost immediately after gaining the slightest attention. While Sonic Mania isn't a fangame, its roots were deep from the Romhack community. This represents cracking the door between what the fandom produces and what the corporate offices allow being available to consumers in a world were popular fangames and hacks result in cease and desist orders - which is why I think is very important to put Sonic Mania as the number 5 game of this console generation.

Number 4: Rocket League. As of today, Rocket League is a now free to play game for better or for worse. Rocket League is high-octane fun, blasting balls across various courts and fields such as basketball and football with fast automobiles but what it is most well known for is basically soccer with cars. Rocket League is a lot of fun to play and has a large audience of in the streaming and esports field which would be reason enough to put this game in a top 5 but what this game marks maybe even more importantly is cross console online play. While other games have and do continue to have online play across systems, back in March of 2016 Microsoft was very interested in allowing online play between Xbox One and other consoles them being extremely hopeful for Playstation 4 in particular, however Sony was holding out. Sony was hesitant, citing their emphasis on providing a certain quality online experience but finally came to the party and in 2019 you could finally play Rocket League online with all your friends whether it be on PC, Xbox One, Switch, or Playstation 4. Since then we have had other games slowly roll out this feature such as Wargroove and the trend seems to be expanding. I hope to see all games adopt this in the future and since Rocket League “birthed” this concept coming to the table for cross console online play for us all to enjoy, this is why I think Rocket League deserves the number 4 slot.

Number 3: Bloodborne/Dark Souls III. This past generation and hell even to some extent decade, spanning to the PS3/Xbox 360, has lead us to compare every challenging game that comes out to Dark Souls. Cuphead is the Dark Souls of run and gun shooters, Dead Cells is the Dark Souls of Metroidvanias, Celeste is the Dark Souls of platformers, etc. While the meme of “X is like the Dark Souls of” is hard to find a concrete start, according to Google Trends this first seemed to spike in April of 2015 around the release of Bloodborne, the PS4 game created by FromSoftware. While not technically a Dark Souls game, it was made by the same team and the game play and feel is very Dark Souls in the sense that I feel the phrase is used today, in contrast to the first two Dark Souls games. Then we can see that in/and around October 2017 the trend has risen to its peak a little after a year and a half of the release of Dark Souls III. While this justification may seem more flimsy and ultimately the Dark Souls brand was established in 2011, I do think Bloodborne/Dark Souls III is more in the zeitgeist, if you will, of the “X is like Dark Souls” comparison that has shaped the conversation of so many games today.

Number 2: Undertale. Undertale is perhaps the darling of this generation. A game chock full of charm with multiple ways to approach it. Will you save everyone, sacrifice everyone, or something in-between? This game does look next gen, current gen or even comparable to past gen games until you hit perhaps the SNES or even late NES. Maybe a number 2 spot is too high on list – this game didn't revolutionize the industry in ways that the other games on this list did nor was it the first anti-RPG of its kind, that would probably go to MOON, but Undertale just had such a powerful impact on gamers when it came out and became so unforgettable. I feel like Undertale will be a game that we remember for a long time and to not include it in this list because its an indie game would be a real tragedy which segways me to my number 1 game.

Number 1: Shovel Knight. Shovel Knight is the indie game that, I think, lead to the current boom of retro inspired indie games we have been enjoying. A love letter to the NES games of the past such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Ducktales to name a few. Shovel Knight wasn't the first retro inspired indie games but I feel like the attention to detail in trying to stay as true to what the hardware could run in terms of look, color, sound and pixel art with its overwhelming success showed that there was a market for these type of games. Its success kickstarter in 2013 also showed that Kickstarter could be used as a viable platform to create indie games for a wider audience without having to rely on that Triple A model of good gaming synonymous with big budget corporate funding. I firmly believe that we wouldn't have the great retro inspired games like Celeste and Dead Cells or the Kickstarter'd Yooka Laylee and Bloodstained or games that did both like Blasphemous if it wasn't for the hard-work and ingenuity that Yacht Club Games paved with Shovel Knight.

To use a popular Youtube cliché to conclude this list, “At the end of the day” I didn't make this list to put Game Informer or anyone's personal preferences down. If you believe that they got the Top 5 games of the decade right that's perfectly ok and valid too, to have as your opinion. I also want to reiterate that those five games – The Last of Us Part II, the Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild and God of War are all important to this generation coming to a close as well in their own way. While this list isn't my favorite games of the past generation, maybe I'll do that in the future, they are my subjective “best games list” of the past generation for what I think they did to the industry and you are free to agree, disagree, pick and choose between my list and Game Informers list or make a completely different list of your own. I'm personally excited to see what the future of gaming has for us in this coming generation and optimistic for what's both around the corner and late into the next systems' life-cycle. Happy gaming to you however you play.

Webpages noted: https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/17/21443683/nintendo-3ds-discontinued-lifetime-sales-hardware-software-units

https://www.fandom.com/articles/sonic-mania-just-nostalgia

https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/15/15807138/sony-playstation-cross-network-play-xbox-block-response

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/were-ready-microsoft-says-about-xbox-one-ps4-cross/1100-6438654/

https://www.rocketleague.com/news/full-cross-platform-play-now-live-in-rocket-league/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-knight

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140625/219383/Breaking_the_NES_for_Shovel_Knight.php

Games shown/referenced in the video:

The Last of Us Part 2

God of War

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Red Dead Redeption II

Witcher 3

PT / Silent Hill S

Sonic Mania

Rocket League

Blood Borne

Dark Souls III

Undertale

Shovel Knight

Shantae: Half Genie Hero

Cuphead

Celeste

Yooka Laylee

Mega Man 2

Ducktales

Castlevania

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Blasphemous

Dead Cells

Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 8

Moon

Layers of Fear

The Park

Death Stranding

Bonus Footage:

Xbox Series X reveal trailer

PS5 reveal trailer

Also note: I messed up in the original video and said the phrase, “X is like Dark Souls of” spiked in April of 2015 when I should have said first peaked in January to April of 2015. I noted it in the video but wanted to note it again, sorry.

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jan-uinely · 4 years

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hot takes [pt. ii]

good[e] morning campers! we have more thoughts on \_ |_ | _/ RuPaul’s Drag Race episode 9... because i have nothing better to think about... lol. This is a novel, btw.

SO... I have said it before and i will say it again... the in memorium segment gave me life. Robot Barbie Cheerleader. also RIP to jan’s clear drink in untucked.

Let’s get into the gig, because why not. Unsure if readers are aware, but I am very politically minded. [do I use tumblr as a way to put politics aside for a little while? sure. but I have also worked on campaigns, did not take Elizabeth warren dropping out of the presidential race well... I mean she dropped at the beginning of march and now look at where we are.... anyWAYs.]

I did not like this episode. I did not like the challenge. From what I understand, the only other time this challenge was done was in season 4, but I stopped watching season 4 when sharon wore a conf*derate flag bodysuit for a mini challenge, prior to which she wore a mccain/palin shirt. I still don’t know if it was a joke, but #yeet.

So this episode took the place of a “roast”/ stand up episode. Those are usually fine. They separate folks a little bit more. But, as someone who followed the recent primary with a VERY close eye, but was could also be humorous about it... Debates are hard to do. What makes a debate work is that everyone is well versed on everyone else’s platform, and knows how to attack them, because they have been the same person the whole time. For some reason, everyone “invented” a different character to play.... no one had a real platform... and it’s really hard to ~volley~ when people don’t really understand everyone’s characters. I also think, similar to the democratic primary- that there were too many people on stage. I also think snatch game happened too early... but that’s another story never mind anyway [did you catch that into the woods/bernadette peters joke???? @ JAN ].

So everyone has these “characters” which for the most part are not super consistent with who they’ve been portraying on the show... which makes it challenging. Then, it was moderated very poorly, and then edited together very poorly. There was no flow... it was very choppy. Again... not a fan.

Season 8 also had a political challenge, but if i remember correctly, that was just a branding challenge kind of. It was better than this. Now, do I appreciate the fact that Drag Race is taking this election very seriously?? YES. But this challenge was just Not It.

I thought Jaida was very consistent, I liked Jackie’s a lot [It seems like a running gag that she is too prepared in the same way that Jan was too energetic... which has its own election flashbacks....] I am really enjoying crystal... I thought she also had what was close to a fully formed character.. it just needed to bake a little more.

So... next up... ms. goode. #cringe. tbh I don’t care about the performance. Were they just trying to redo snatch game? basically. were they the only person to try and do that? No.

This mirror chat was the bomb dot com tho. best part of the episode.

We’re talking about the “oh i’m not political” We knew from episode one that Gigi grew up in a lot of privilege- and wasn’t the only one [@ jan] but jesus has it shown in gigi the most... I mean bob the drag queen said it best.. Gigi goode’s mom vs Jaida Essence Hall.

But the nerve to openly say “i’m not political, and I don’t like it” when you KNOW at this point in time what the contestants have gone through... it’s just really insensitive. Also to be the open front runner knowing that the RPDR fans can be young and impressionable.. is really irresponsible TBH.

Guess what? I don’t like to follow the news sometimes. I don’t watch tr*mp’s press conferences. Sometimes I log off twitter and go to tumblr. But I still stay INFORMED on the issues and am able to back up my positions. I VOTE. [cannot believe i’m saying this but i would not be surprised if gigi did not vote in 2016.]

[sidebar]

Maybe it’s bc I stan jan in a way that I have stanned no one else before [the only ru girl who even comes close to it while I was actively watching the show without prior knowledge is naomi] Maybe it’s combined with the quarantine that I have nothing else to do. And with that comes a [virtual] introduction to basically everybody who’s anybody in the NYC drag scene. [I will say the Bob-Monet-Cracker-Jan quad is just A+] So maybe I just have a better idea of what it is [have I gone down a Youtube rabbit hole on this subject? yes]

Is new york also my personal favorite city? yes. Have I been to LA? no. Do I like the concept of LA? no. Have I been west of the mississippi river? no. So maybe it’s a combination of all of these things [including Jan saying on repeat that New York is the greatest city to do drag] but. The NYC girls are just so much more political. Brita, Bob, MOnet, tbh Jan is also on the record saying some A+ shiz. Marti Cummings is a non binary drag artist running for city council in manhattan. “Everybody black and aquaria.”

Is NYC politics like any city, full of machines and garbage too? Sure. But NYC is just so much more powerful and political. LA is just the embodiment of privilege.

I also think it’s interesting that some of the smaller town/city gals will move to LA [Trixie/Katya/Alaska? I’m looking @ you] after they get the drag race coin. Not that it’s a bad thing or anything, it’s just an interesting dynamic. [another aside: the non NY/LA girls deserve it all and i think it’s really powerful when the show directly addresses issues of wealth/privilege/access to drag on the show.]

[end sidebar]

And Gigi came into the competition saying “I want to be on vogue” which is great. Their fashion sense is great. Most of their outfits are great. It’s great that they can do comedy [sometimes- like when they are not playing the role of Gigi] But something else I take issue with- and don’t get me wrong humility is great- is the whole “I’m not a dancer” that’s BS. they whole back handspring etc, madonna challenge. Maybe you weren’t a trained dancer, but ffs cut the crap. [if you haven’t look up gigi goode showgirls]

And yet the judges continue to give Gigi [and SP] free passes. It’s like Ru is so afraid that if either of them end up in the bottom, they won’t turn it out and then there will be no frontrunner. Well guess what? In season 7, Max had 2 wins before anyone else and came in 9th. valentina going home was a total gag. Brooke and Yvie lip synced on the snatch game ep. But Apparently when the skinny white fashion queen from the big city [gigi, aquaria] does less than well, they don’t get put up for elimination??? [did aquaria deserve to lip sync for the makeover? idk.]

Gigi is getting a “winner” edit and it’s not really fair to anyone. People who should have won certain challenges were IGNORED, and instead the producers give all the credit to gigi, giving them almost a worse edit. Like we want to see humans, not robots. If we learned ANYTHING from last week is that the judges don’t like when you just “start on 100 and stay there THE WHOLE TIME”. Bc the truth is that [aside from the loads and loads and loads of privilege,] Gigi is really nice and very talented. But I, as a viewer of reality TV, live to see the perfect fail. I want everyone to shine [this is why I loved when Naomi sent manila home, oops]

Also.. I would like to address the fact that Gigi basically used the same outfit twice... this runway and entrance look have almost the same pattern, with just a slightly different skirt type. I would like for this behavior to be called out bc it is such a memorable silhouette.

Also- Shout out to Crystal for the most bomb ass runway... I want that whole outfit pls.

but aside from that... TBH I just want a show with the real top 7 [ the heidi and widow have been cracking me up saying “we’re at top 5″ or “we’re at top 6″ before the ep aired on instagram and I’m loling.. and that VERY AWK moment when Jan is on the x change rate saying that they couldn’t justify putting anyone other that her and widow in the bottom bc gigi and 3 wins and trying to work around not saying SP’s name had 2. [also shout out to jan the real mvp for unfollowing SP on twitter]] doing competitions and having fun. And I’ve said this before. This is a really good season that did not need production’s handprints all over everything. But they chose to cast RuPaul’s Best Friend Race, so they shouldn’t be complaining or trying to manufacture drama.

I was cracking up when Jaida was [clearly prodded by producers] asking is there anything we need to talk about? and then Jackie goes to talk to widow right before they leave and they are just nice to each other. lol no drama here. It’s the season of the inner saboteur.

So Jackie and widow are in the bottom and tbh I don’t know. I would have liked to see Gigi lip sync. I would have liked this challenge to not happen. but it did. The lip sync song.. I just didn’t love the cut... Katy perry’s voice is so over produced [trend alert] that the illusion of the lip sync didn’t work in the first chorus. Jackie’s plastic bag was just A+. These lip syncs, tbh starting w jan v widow have been very good. not good enough to make up for the garbage that was everything since ep. 3, but close. [and some of that was song choice, some of it was not. I will say brita killed her first one but rip to rock]

Jeff gold bloom. I just don’t know. Maybe it’s bc I never saw jurassic park. Maybe he was just a bad judge. maybe he too was being prodded by production. ugh. You can read the takes on his interactions with jackie somewhere else.

#RuPaul's Drag Race #constructive criticism #drag race season 12 #drag race spoilers #most of my frustration is towards production #goode bye to jan sport

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bikethevote · 4 years

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Bike The Vote L.A. Endorsement - Nithya Raman for City Council District 4

2020 Los Angeles CD4 Endorsement: Nithya Raman

Primary Election: Saturday, February 22 – Tuesday, March 3, 2020 7am-8pm Find your Council District: http://neighborhoodinfo.lacity.org/ Find a voting center: http://lavote.net/locator

Earlier this year, Bike The Vote L.A. made an endorsement of an exceptional candidate, Sarah Kate Levy in the City Council District 4 race. Additional candidates have entered the race, and we are pleased to report that Bike The Vote L.A. has decided to make a second endorsement of another superb candidate, Nithya Raman. In making this dual endorsement, we recognize the incredible opportunity available to CD4 voters, in having a choice of not just one, but two inspirational leaders who understand transportation equity and are ready to take action on safe streets.

Nithya Raman is an inspiring grassroots candidate with a long track record of advocacy and community organizing centered around equity. She’s trained as an urban planner, and it shows in her systematic approach to solving problems, and her deep understanding of the root causes behind L.A.’s transportation challenges. To Raman, transportation is not just a matter of getting around: it’s a critical aspect of environmental action, a public safety crisis that is injuring and killing too many residents, and an issue of equity that limits opportunity and access for people with disabilities and low income Angelenos.

In her detailed and inspirational response to Bike The Vote L.A., Raman articulates one of the most progressive transportation platforms ever put forward by a Southern California candidate for elected office. Raman rightly recognizes that what L.A. currently lacks is political will, and makes clear that she’s ready to turn the tide. We are impressed with her determination to improve access, efficiency, and the overall experience of bus service; a critical aspect of an equitable transportation system. In noting the ways in which the City has failed to build out a safe bike network, Raman rightly points to the need to reconsider on-street parking, too often considered a third rail by elected officials.

In November, Raman released an exceptional and cohesive environmental platform, that smartly puts protected bus lanes, protected bike lanes, and pedestrian-friendly design at the center of action to address Los Angeles’ worsening air quality. Stressing the need for immediate action, she highlights L.A.’s ready-to-implement Mobility Plan 2035 and its already-adopted Vision Zero policy, both of which are in search of leadership to bring about results.

As Raman notes, it is not only leadership that is lacking, but also a commitment to building consensus. We are impressed with Raman’s track record of effective community education, outreach, and coalition building as the founder of the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. Bringing this level of community organizing to issues of transportation equity would be transformative for safe streets advocacy.

As Los Angeles dithers on Vision Zero, we need effective leadership that understands the complexity and intersectionality of issues we face. Nithya Raman is a truly inspirational and deeply knowledgeable leader with a plan to turn the tide on the structural issues that negatively impact the day-to-day lives of Angelenos. Bike The Vote L.A. is pleased to endorse Nithya Raman for Los Angeles City Council District 4.

(See below for Nithya Raman’s full candidate questionnaire response)

1. Los Angeles Metro is constructing and planning multiple transit lines through CD4, including the Purple Line extension, the East Valley Transit Corridor, the Sepulveda corridor line, and the northern extension of the Crenshaw Line. How do you plan to solve the first mile/last mile problem and connect riders to these lines?

As a lifelong user of transit, and as someone who took multiple trains to commute from my home in Silver Lake to my job in Santa Monica, the lack of first / last mile connectivity was something that I thought about every single day. And I had a lot of time to think about it! I was a supercommuter – 90+ minutes each way, with a challenging last mile back to my house.

Here are a few solutions to the first/last mile problem I would work to put in place.

I’d make it easier to get on the bus. For people of all abilities and incomes, the bus is the most effective mover of people we have in the City of Los Angeles. And while we have a good bus network, we’ve been losing ridership steadily for many years. There are many reasons for this, including the rise of rideshare and the decrease in lower income residents in the city who make up the majority of bus ridership. But there’s one major reason that is fairly straightforward to address: bus frequency! Buses should run at a maximum of 10-minute intervals, and faster on heavy-use corridors, especially during rush hour. To get people to their destination faster and to make taking the bus more appealing, I’d also fight to build shelters for every bus station in the city, expand all-door boarding across the entire bus fleet, and build out the city’s network of bus lanes – some tactical lanes that shift from one side of the street to another depending on which way rush-hour traffic moves, and some dedicated lanes on major boulevards

Make it easier for people to walk, cycle, and scoot to the stations. Metro has found over and over again in surveys that the majority of train users are not getting to the station in cars – they’re mostly walking, but also biking and scooting. There’s simply no way to increase ridership without increasing access for pedestrians and cyclists.

I’d take a number of approaches to make walking and bike trips safer and more pleasant depending on the station and its needs: repairing sidewalks, planting lots of trees, lowering traffic speeds around the station, installing bicycle facilities, improving crosswalks, and more. A network of protected bike lanes and widened sidewalks that lead to the stations must be a part of the solution, especially in those areas where they’ve already been prescribed by the Mobility Plan 2035.

Metro has laid out detailed guidelines for how to improve infrastructure to maximize accessibility to train stations in their First Mile Last Mile Strategic Plan, and I would ensure that all stations in the District implement those guidelines.

While we’re at it: make it easier to take the train! First and last mile problems are important to address, but part of the reason why taking transit continues to be difficult in Los Angeles is that the headways on the trains are too long, especially for transit users who are using multiple modes (which is more than half of train users!). If my bus or drop off to the train station was late, I had to wait 9 minutes for another train during rush hour – way too long for someone who had to be at the office by a particular time. Investing as much as we are in building out new train lines while making it more inconvenient for users of existing transit infrastructure seems incredibly counterproductive.

Political will: I strongly believe that the most important element of improving first / last mile access is not a technical one: it’s political will.

Voters in LA have shown over and over again that they overwhelmingly support improvements to public transit, most recently in passing Measure M in 2016 with more than 70% of people in support. It is because of this widespread voter support that CD4 is able to have these historic investments in new rail. Yet without addressing the issues of first/last mile access to our trains, we are not keeping the promises that Metro and City leaders made to Angelenos. And we will likely fail to meet our broader climate goals for the city, which involve a 39% decrease in our vehicle miles traveled by 2035.

Keeping those promises to voters will require real political courage from councilmembers. Changes in traffic management and reductions in road space for cars have elicited and will continue to elicit loud opposition from some residents. As a result of such vocal opposition, City Councilmembers have mostly used their power over City streets to impede the development of safe, friendly, and accessible routes to and from transit that will encourage people to use the non-car alternatives that we’re building. They have impeded or ignored plans that both Metro has put in place, such as the First Mile Last Mile Strategic Plan, and that the City of Los Angeles has put in place, such as the 2010 Bicycle Plan, the Mobility Plan 2035, and Vision Zero.

We have all of the technical expertise and evidence we need to create an interconnected system of transit that works for users, and that offers safe first / last mile connectivity, much of it codified into the plans listed above. As councilmember, I will wholeheartedly support the planning work that Metro has done and make sure that the City follows through on its own plans.

2. News outlets are reporting that 242 Angelenos were killed in car crashes in 2018, showing that L.A. has failed to make significant progress towards Vision Zero since adopting the policy in 2015. Why do LA’s streets remain so deadly by design? What would you do to make them safer?

Higher speeds lead to greater numbers of deaths in car crashes. This is especially true for pedestrians, whose chances of significant injury or death rise drastically when cars are traveling at speeds higher than 20 mph.

The reason LA’s streets are so deadly is a bleak and simple one: our city’s leaders have chosen the preferences of car drivers over the safety of everyone else. Just last week, a councilmember said outright that if they slowed down car traffic to make the streets safer for other modes, voters would “have our heads on a rail.” As a result, we are facing a reality where Angelenos, primarily residents of color, put their bodies at serious risk every day just trying to cross the street. And instead of working to slow down traffic, the city has increased speed limits all over the city.

However, we do know how to solve these problems. We know where the dangerous streets are. And we know how to design roads to discourage speeding and other forms of unsafe driving. There are a number of evidence-backed methods at our disposal, including protected bike lanes, raised medians, bulb-outs, and daylighting intersections, just to name a few.

As councilmember, I’d move to get safety improvements on every High Injury Network street in my district, and fight to get similar infrastructure in place across the city. I also would not support changes in other parts of the city that will decrease the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

3. Los Angeles’ traffic woes are compounded by the reality that many parents and students don’t feel safe allowing their children to walk or bike to school. Why do you think this is? What would you do as councilmember to improve active transportation options around schools?

This past April, two sisters were hit by a big rig on their way to school as they tried to cross Exposition Boulevard. Both died from their injuries. The driver never even saw them. Five months later, not a single change to the street’s design has even been proposed.

Parents don’t feel safe letting their children walk to school because in most of Los Angeles, they aren’t safe. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one single cause of death of children and adolescents, and our leaders haven’t taken adequate action to protect our youngest, most vulnerable residents from the greatest threat to their lives. It is something I think about so much as the mother of twin preschoolers who walk and use scooters and balance bikes around my neighborhood.

Improving active transportation options around schools and increasing safety will involve investments in street design, and this is something I am committed to doing. These changes will include many of the design interventions described above in the previous two answers.

An important element of executing these improvements is winning community support in advance of implementing changes. Through my work as a founder of the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition and as co-chair of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Homelessness Committee, I was able to work with neighborhood councils throughout the region to win their support for much needed local resources for unhoused residents in the area. To obtain this support, SELAH members worked closely with Homelessness Committees and with the wider Councils to educate them on the needs and benefits of such services, and asked them to submit letters and statements in support of such services to the City. We also designed SELAH to bring in as many volunteers as possible. Through SELAH’s outreach, shower, and hot meal programs, hundreds of local residents have been able to volunteer to provide direct services for their unhoused neighbors. Through volunteering and getting educated, they have changed their perceptions of homelessness and many of them have become vocal advocates for more resources.

Similar methods, such as reaching out to Moms Clubs, PTAs, Education Committees on Neighborhood Councils, and other local stakeholders, will be essential in winning the public’s support for slowing traffic and other safety improvements around schools. As someone who has spent much of their career in building coalitions to support change, this is the kind of community outreach that I will prioritize as a Councilmember.

4. Neighborhood councils in CD4, including Silver Lake, Mid City West, and Los Feliz, have all shown strong support for a more bikeable CD4. Despite this, the few bike lanes in CD4 are discontinuous and dump riders out into dangerous thoroughfares. What do you see as the impediments to building out the adopted Mobility Plan 2035’s network of bike infrastructure? Which of the connections in CD4 do you see as a priority and will you push for as councilmember?

The Mobility Plan 2035 is an incredibly powerful weapon we have as a city to improve our air quality and combat climate change. If the City made all of the plan’s recommendations, we would easily meet the goals set by Mayor Garcetti in his Green New Deal to reduce vehicle miles traveled by 2035.

The biggest impediment to building out the network, in my view, is our city’s reluctance to part with on-street parking on major boulevards. There are simply better uses for the space, and no excuses not to have bike lanes on Hollywood and Wilshire Boulevard. There isn’t a recommendation in the Plan that I wouldn’t fight for, though.

5. Please respond to the following questions regarding specific CD4 corridors with known safety issues:

5A. Bike lanes on Rowena Ave. and Silver Lake Blvd. both terminate at Glendale Blvd., leaving a dangerous gap between these lanes and the L.A. River Path. Despite L.A.’s future plans for revitalization of the Los Angeles River, there are no bike lanes that access the entire segment of the L.A. River Path between Elysian Valley and Glendale. What will you do as councilmember to actively push for bike lanes on Glendale Blvd. and Fletcher Dr. to provide families with safe access by bike to the L.A. River Path?

One of the biggest issues with how our bicycle infrastructure has been built in Los Angeles is its lack of interconnectivity.

The lack of bike lanes on Glendale and Fletcher has rendered the Rowena Road Diet much less effective than it could be at getting people out of their cars and onto bikes. There’s no reason not to extend the same design that has made Rowena safer onto those streets. The welcome revitalization of the river makes these fixes all the more necessary.

And we shouldn’t stop just at the small section of Glendale Boulevard between Rowena and Fletcher — while it’s mostly not in my district, the portion of Glendale that runs south to Sunset and beyond is one of the most inhospitable to pedestrians and cyclists in the city, and must be addressed.

5B. Despite unanimous support from the Mid City West Community Council for a road diet on 6th Street to provide an important connection to LACMA and to West Hollywood, and in response to 3 fatalities on the street over 5 years, the office of Council District 4 opted instead for a modest plan that added left turn pockets at one intersection. Will you implement the LADOT-recommended road diet?

Yes. As Mid City expands into a major tourism and transit hub, we have to use every strategy available to prioritize alternative transit modes and street safety.

5C. Hyperion Ave. was recently the site of a horrific crash that took the life of local grandmother, Cristina Garcia. Citing the unsafe conditions of Hyperion, the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council has repeatedly called for safety improvements to this street, which LADOT has determined is part of the High Injury Network. Speed is the predominant factor in determining whether a crash is deadly. Would you support a road diet reconfiguration of Hyperion Ave. to reduce speeding and improve the safety of pedestrians, people on bikes, and turning drivers?

Absolutely. I also believe bike lanes could replace on-street parking on Hyperion between Griffith Park Boulevard and Rowena, creating a continuous network of lanes from Sunset to Glendale Boulevard. And while it’s not in my district, I’d support extending safety measures onto Fountain Ave. by King Middle School — it’s inexcusable to put hundreds of children next to such a dangerous street.

6. Over the past year, we have seen increased use of privately owned and shared mobility electric scooters throughout Los Angeles. What role do you see for this emerging transportation technology, and how can the City of Los Angeles act to ensure safe mobility for all road users during a time when many Angelenos are making shifts in their mobility choices?

Scooters are a flashpoint in LA, but I think that they are an exciting addition to our transit options, particularly as a solution to the aforementioned last-mile problem. Even if the current wave of venture-backed scooter companies close up shop, individuals will continue to use scooters, along with e-bikes and regular bicycles.

Unfortunately, like many things in Los Angeles, our lack of good management of scooters and scooter companies has led to conflicts between them and other users of the streets.

Emerging data suggests that scooter users are mostly a danger to themselves: the vast majority of scooter-related injuries are from people falling off their scooters , with almost no injuries resulting from collisions with pedestrians. But pedestrians on sidewalks have felt unsafe with scooters sharing that space. However, scooter users ride on the sidewalks because they feel unsafe on roads! We must make it easier and safer for people to use non-automobile modes of transit. That means implementing more protected bike lanes and all of the other street design solutions at our disposal.

#bikethevote #CD4

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andimthedad · 5 years

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Road Trip: Eastward Day 8: Ford, Parks, and Rice

This summer, the kids and I embarked on a 10,000-mile cross-country road trip from Washington to Maine and back. Along the way, we got a brief taste of America through landmarks and sights that represent our nation, for better or worse.

Read notes from every day of the trip:

Eastward: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Westward: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

And various posts from the FAQ.

Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan

Dearborn is probably most famous as the birthplace of Henry Ford, the world-famous innovator, businessman, and racist. For more than a century, it has been the site of Ford’s largest industrial complex, called the Rouge, which currently produces Ford’s popular F-150 pickup trucks. It’s also the site of the Henry Ford museum, which calls itself simply “The Henry Ford” as if possessed by his ghost.

Our first stop was the tour of Ford’s River Rouge factory. After taking a shuttle bus from the museum, we began the five stages of the tour.

In the first theater, we watched a movie about the history of the Ford Motor Company and the Rouge factory. It covered Henry Ford’s innovations in manufacturing and key events in the history of the plant: the first Model T's produced there; the Depression; the struggle against and eventually acceptance of unionization; and more.

“The museum seems to skip over the fact that Henry Ford was so racist against Jews that Hitler gave him a medal,” I remarked later.

“They want you to focus on all the cool and smart things he did,” said Luke, age 14.

“Like yesterday with Michael Jackson, that suggests a question,” I responded. “How many flaws can an American hero have before they’re not a hero anymore?”

In the second stage of the tour — the “Manufacturing Innovation Theater” — we saw a dramatic video presentation involving laser lights, choreographed assembly robots, 360° video projections, and a scale model of a pickup truck overlaid with various projections. Here’s a video about it:

youtube

“That was intense,” said Beth, age 11, after the presentation. “It was like a ride at Universal Studies but without moving in your seats.”

“If that doesn’t make you want to buy a Ford truck, nothing will,” added Luke.

The third stage took us to viewing platform that overlooked the factory complex. Altogether, the buildings and grounds are approximately 600 acres. The grass-covered roofs of some buildings are interesting, and apparently very cost-effective.

You can just make out the Detroit skyline from one corner of the platform, but it’s hard to get a picture of it.

The fourth stage was why everyone was there: touring the actual assembly floor of the factory. We were allowed to walk around a platform that circled above the factory floor where hundreds of employees worked along an efficient, highly mechanized assembly line that, every 24 hours, builds and tests at least 1200 complete F-150 trucks.

Unfortunately, photography is prohibited in the factory. A security guard told me it was due to a privacy clause in Ford’s contract with the United Automobile Workers union.

The factory tour ends in a small museum of vehicles that have been produced by the Rouge factory over the past century, like the Ford Thunderbird.

Then we took a shuttle bus back to the main Henry Ford museum. It houses all kinds of automotive and transportation history, including a number of non-Ford products.

For example, it has the public bus (made by GMC, incidentally) on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, an event that many people believe sparked the civil rights movement. The museum has refurbished the bus to its original condition, and not only can you see it, but you can sit in Parks’ seat too.

The museum also has a number of limousines from American presidents, including the vehicle JFK was shot in.

"Huh,” I said. “They let you sit in the Rosa Parks bus where she sat, but you can’t sit in the JFK limo where he sat.”

“Dad, that’s a really dark thing to say, even for you,” said Beth.

Cudell Recreation Center, Cleveland, Ohio

We wandered further around the Ford museum, then left Dearborn and headed south to circumnavigate Lake Erie on our way to New York.

In Cleveland, we drove to the Cudell Recreation Center, where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police officer Timothy Loehman in 2014. The murder sparked public outrage, especially since it occurred not long after police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City, among others.

I had considered stopping at the Cudell Rec Center to use its basketball courts for the kid’s trip activities. However, the center’s parking lot was full. So we simply stopped by the side of the road and I had kids look up more information about Tamir Rice.

Luke found the surveillance video [warning: it’s disturbing] and watched it.

“Holy crap,” he said. “The cop car zooms in and nearly hits Tamir, like almost runs him over — then the cop shoots him just about immediately. It’s not even 4 seconds.”

“You were 10 years old when this happened,” I said to him, “and Tamir was only a year older than you are now, Beth.”

The kids are astonished and angry. “Like, every kid plays with guns. This is insane. If that kid was white you know it would not have gone down this way.”

“And Ohio is an open-carry state, so even if Tamir Rice had been an adult with a real gun, he would have been within his legal rights,” I noted.

Beth found out that Tamir’s older sister, 14 years old at the time, tried to come to Tamir’s aid. But, the police tackled her, handcuffed her, and put her in Loehman’s police car. And they didn’t administer any first aid to Tamir for several minutes.

“That cop went to jail, right?” asked Beth.

“No,” I said. “He said he feared for his life, so the courts could not find him guilty of murder. He was fired, though, because it turned out his previous police department said he was emotionally unstable and should not be a police officer.”

“Well, that’s something,” muttered Luke, “but not enough.”

“And he got hired again as a cop in another Ohio town,” I said.

“WHAT?!” both kids exclaimed.

We ended up finding another park nearby with a basketball court for the kids.

Ohio, I know you have more to offer — like the home of one of my favorite bands, Over The Rhine — but we were just passing through.

Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pennsylvania

We continued on to Pennsylvania. As with Ohio, we were primarily passing through on our way to New York. For a scenic stop, we went to Presque Isle State Park to take in the beautiful views of Lake Erie.

There are several beaches in the park, and they were better than I expected. Like other Great Lakes, Lake Erie is big enough that you can’t see the other side. For some reason the beach also vaguely smelled like the ocean, an effect reinforced by flocks of seagulls.

“Maybe they’re called lakegulls here,” suggested Beth.

On this eastbound trip, we didn’t stop anywhere else in PA, but we will on the westbound return trip.

North East, Pennsylvania

We stopped for the night at a hotel in North East.

—

Unless noted otherwise, all photos are taken by the kids and I, and are shared under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

#road trip #roadtrip #ford #henry ford #michigan #ohio #cleveland #detroit #dearborn #pennsylvania #mi #oh #pa #presque isle #hero #erie #kids #dads #parenting #america #parenthood #fathering

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saimajabeenposts-blog · 5 years

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35 of the Best Offline Marketing Ideas

Most businesses that succeed, do so because their marketing strategy uses a mixture of online and offline marketing ideas. This is usually called multi-channel marketing. But offline marketing ideas seem to be going the way of the dinosaur–extinct.

Just because you have an online-based marketing strategy, doesn’t mean you should ignore those great offline marketing ideas! It’s especially important because offline marketing falls under one of the letters in The CLICK Technique—“K” for “Keep Going”. Once you’re in the thick of your online marketing, consistency is key, and offline marketing can sometimes fall to the wayside. Here are the 35 of the Best Offline Marketing Ideas

Check out my list, and see what will work for your business so that you can keep going. 35 of the Best Offline Marketing Ideas

Business Cards

This isn’t just one of the great offline marketing ideas; it’s more or less essential for any business. Business cards allow you to quickly and efficiently give someone a compact way to get in touch—not just with you, but with your business as a whole.

In the modern age, fewer people are relying on business cards. They assume that, because they have an online presence, a business card is superfluous. This couldn’t be more wrong. People remember you because of what’s on your business card. This includes details like your website URL.

Get business cards made, and start handing them out wherever you go! 2. Create Pamphlets

Great looking pamphlets can be tough to design, but it’s a great offering in the list of offline marketing ideas. Like any advertisement, the presentation is important; the importance is doubled for pamphlets. The first impression of this item can make or break its effectiveness.

Get a good set of pamphlets done, and then make sure you can leave them in places where they’ll be seen. And not just any place–you want them located places that your customers might go. Other places of business, public parks, washrooms–get creative here! 3. Hold a Contest

Contests have a lot of draw to them. Many of us are compelled to compete, especially when it’s something we know that we’re good at. And if there’s a good prize being offered? Oh yes–people will show up in droves.

Figure out what sort of contest would be interesting for your intended customer base. What sort of skill set would they have? What sort of prizes would they be willing to fight for?

This can be one of the more fun offline marketing ideas on the list, if done right. Have a good time while hosting the event, and you (and your business) will be the shining stars folks remember. 4. Head to a Trade Show

Even if you’re afraid that your business can’t spring for a booth, go to those vendor trade shows. Even if you’re nervous that your product won’t shine when compared with others, get to the trade show. No matter what sort of excuses spring up: Be. At. Trade. Shows.

This one of my offline marketing ideas can be costly and time consuming, but it’s worth the investment. You’ll never know how you’ll fare until you get to the show, but most people see a modest amount of success at minimum. At most, you’ll be wildly popular.

And, hey–if price is really a concern, find another small business who wouldn’t be able to afford the booth on their own and consider splitting a booth with a product that appeals to the same audience. It’s a win-win! 5. Send Seasonal Cards

Here’s a great on of my offline marketing ideas for those of you who love to send out seasonal cards every year. Seasonal cards can build a lot of rapport between the giver and receiver. People love to give them, and they love to get them. Consider how surprised they’ll be when they open their mailbox to find a card from your business!

More businesses used to send out seasonal cards, but it’s becoming less and less common as the years go on. Let your business be one of those that sticks with tradition! A great many people love receiving seasonal cards, and they’ll graciously accept one from you. 6. Community Engagement

How much are you involved in your community, as an individual? Depending on the type of person you are, you might be involved a lot, a little, or not at all. On an individual level, community engagement is one of those things that is a choice. As a business, however, that choice becomes a crucial part of your marketing campaign.

Of all my offline marketing ideas, this one is pretty critical. People love to support local businesses. It’s become the “thing” to do these days. People feel a lot of pride knowing that a successful business runs out of their area. If you can properly engage with your community, that pride will skyrocket. Harness that pride, and turn those people into customers. 7. Put Out Press Releases

Press releases are one of my top offline marketing ideas, due to how well they can spread the word about your business or product. A good press release can spark curiosity in your business. It can provide you with shareable content that can be spread easily. There’s no real downside to putting out regular press releases.

A press release is a one-page summary of something newsworthy that’s going on with your business. It will have your contact information, website, business name, and some basic details on your news. These press releases can be sent directly to any media publication, and they’ll consider publishing it.

Don’t think you have anything newsworthy? A newly released website or product is good material for a press release. Also consider things like events you are hosting, contests, public speaking events, and more. You can make something newsworthy out of just about anything. 8. Leave Branded Items at Key Locations

Ever seen a business name emblazoned on the side of a pen? Or a frisbee? How about a coffee cup? Of course you have! One of the most traditional offline marketing ideas to ever exist is branded items. It’s done so frequently, it’s become commonplace for people to use these branded items in their own homes.

Done the right way, these items can be fantastic advertisements. Make sure that, along with a fantastic logo, you have ways potential customers can find you. In modern days, a link to your website should be included on the item, along with your logo.

Don’t forget to include a line that describes what it is your business offers. People can’t be interested if they don’t know what it is you’re selling! 9. Speak at Events

Practice warming up your voice, because for this one you’re headed to the stage. Speaking in front of groups can really boost your visibility, as well as the visibility of your company. It’s one of the more effective offline marketing ideas, due to it’s relative usefulness to everyone involved.

If you head to an event and speak on topics you know a lot about, chances are you’ll get a lot of people who are willing to listen. Not just willing–excited. It’s easy to harness that excitement and funnel it towards your business. Hand out those business cards or pamphlets at the end of the presentation!

The key to this one of my offline marketing ideas is to find a good location to speak at. Find events where you can speak about the topics you know, and you won’t feel out of place. 10. Workshops

Educational workshops can be a place to learn, but they can also be a place to be seen. Head to a workshop, and make sure to bring your business cards. Networking, as I’m sure you’re aware, is a big part of marketing. Being around like-minded individuals can give you a chance to connect with smart, useful people.

Better yet, host your own workshop! Many of my offline marketing ideas involve hosting events, and there’s a good reason for it. People love events, and they love the companies that instigate them. An educational workshop about a relevant topic can boost the visibility of your business. 11. Offer Coupons

Everybody likes coupons, right? Why not incorporate something that everyone likes into your marketing campaign? This one can really draw in new customers. It’s easy to consider buying something you might not otherwise splurge on, if you can get it cheaper.

This one of my offline marketing ideas can really stir up interest in your products. The difficult part is making sure that those one-time customers convert into customers that keep coming back for more. Make sure the coupon is for a service or product that will hook people into wanting more! 12. Paper Emails

In a recent podcast I had with the marketing genius Kevin Donlin, Kevin shared one of the more unique offline marketing ideas I’ve ever stumbled across. He calls them “paper emails”, and you’ll want to incorporate them into your marketing strategy.

How often do you check your email? If you’re anything like me, you check it often… but don’t necessarily get a chance to read it all. You may be flooded with daily emails and end up only checking a few of the more important looking ones. Kevin noticed this trend, so he started snail mailing copies of emails he sent to his customers.

You know what? It worked! Many people who get these “paper emails” are thankful for them, due to the flood of emails they get daily. It’s also fantastic to have a physical copy of pivotal information. So the next time you send out an email promotion, be sure to send out a “paper email” that goes with it! 13. Cross Promotions

Cross promotions are what offline marketing ideas are often built on, and this is because they built rapport between your business and another business. Not only are cross promotions effective, but they give you a chance to work together with a similar business.

Say you know of a small store on the corner. You could reach out to the owners of that store and say that you’d like to do a giveaway. You’d provide them with some free products, and they would draw people to their store with those products. Everyone wins!

This could also work well in reverse. If you know a small business that needs a platform, and you have one, host their products instead. You scratch their back, and they’ll scratch yours. 14. Donate

Speaking of scratching backs: another one of my offline marketing ideas builds off the same idea, and that’s donating. Donate products. Donate your time by volunteering to staff an event. Donate whatever it is that people need.

Not only will you be visible to those who see your donating, but you’ll be forever respected by those you donate to. Charity is never a waste of resources. And, hey–you’ll feel good to boot. Can’t lose with this one! 15. Get in the Newspaper

It used to be that reading the newspaper was as pivotal to the morning routine as a cup of coffee. Even as technology advances and more news outlets offer online versions of their publications, many people still read the paper. Those people might just be potential customers.

Run an ad in your local newspaper. Maybe even try reaching out to several of your most local newspapers and asking to get in. They’re generally not too expensive to put an ad in, and you’ll be seen by a lot of local people who will be interested in your business. 16. Cold Calls

Oh, cold calls. The bane of business owners. Selling is difficult, but cold calling can be even more so. There’s something uniquely challenging about picking up the phone and calling a stranger to talk about your business. But you know what? It works.

This is one of the more traditional of my offline marketing ideas, and maybe one of the most difficult for a lot of people. Despite all the humming and hawing people do over it, it still works. Strangers will still convert into customers via a cold call. So pick up that phone, and give it a try! 17. Reconsider Your Businesses Voice

If your business had a voice, what would it sound like? What sort of personality would it have? What’s a phrase that would be quintessential for it?

This is one of my more thought-based offline marketing ideas: developing a voice to go with your business. It may sound a bit corny, but big companies are riding this train all the time. If you think of some big brands, you could probably construct an ad from memory based on the unique voice of the brand.

Is your business hard and to-the-point? Is it relaxed and chill? Maybe it’s quirky and funny? Personify your business, and stick to a voice that really works. You can easily convert the right kind of people by appealing to them with the voice of your business. 18. Sponsor a Community Event

Sponsoring a community event is one of those feel-good offline marketing ideas. Not only do you get seen, you get to make everyone feel good about you being seen.

Community events are often looking for sponsors. You get to put your name all over the event, and they get to afford to host it. The host will be thankful, the attendees will be thankful, and you’ll be thrilled to help out the community. 19. Leave Your Business Cards Elsewhere

Whoops, you dropped your business card on the ground. Sure would be nice if someone else picked it up, wouldn’t it?

Leave your business cards everywhere. On tables at the cafe. On the ground outside of your hairdressers. At the grocery store. Leave a few on railings, counters, tables – you name it, drop a business card there.

Sure, this is one of my more simple offline marketing ideas, but it works. And it couldn’t hurt. 20. Create Speaking Opportunities

Did you enjoy having a chance to speak publicly at an event, due to one of my earlier offline marketing ideas? Why wait until someone else hosts a speaking event? Get proactive, and host your own!

This option is versatile, and all the potential outcomes are great for your marketing model. You could host a speaking event just for yourself. You could host an event that welcomes lots of speakers. Work within what you think you and your business can handle, but don’t be afraid to dream big. Take a chance on a bigger event, and you’ll be able to create a place where you can easily network with others. And you’ll be the host of it all! 21. Canvassing

Got fliers? Business cards? Pamphlets? Looking for a place to put them? Go classic: go canvassing.

Offline marketing ideas can come in all flavors–if this one was a flavor, it would be a classic, familiar vanilla. We’ve all gotten a flier or two left on our doorstep from a local enterprising business. Now it’s your turn! Get out there and pound the pavement. You don’t even need to knock on any doors–just leave your material there for them to see! 22. Collaborate with Influencers/Brand Ambassadors

An “influencer” can take many forms. In the days of social media, and influencer is someone with an established base of followers that can review products or wear swag. When it comes to offline marketing ideas, however, influencers are often known as brand ambassadors.

Brand ambassadors are hired to be a walking, talking billboard. They’ll wear your logos, use your products, and talk positively about your business. Better than your traditional billboard, right? Some people can be a bit iffy about the concept of hiring a person as a billboard, but it can be great for the right business. 23. Get in the Classified Ads

An oldie, but a goodie! Offline marketing ideas often harness offline media sources–tv, radio, and newspaper. In this case, we want to use that timeless classic, the newspaper classified ads, to get eyes on your business.

People still look to these tried-and-true ad sections on a weekly, or even daily, basis. If you think your business and products would appeal to the age group that often reads these papers, you should go for it. Remember that younger audiences often don’t flock to newspapers, but those in the 40+ category do. 24. Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce

Offline marketing ideas often require you to get involved with your local community, and this one is no different. Your local Chamber of Commerce is designed to get businesses seen and working with each other. If you join, you’ll get a good deal of perks for a generally low cost. The cost, of course, depends on the size of your local area.

Depending on where you live and host your business, this could be just a bit helpful or incredibly helpful. An incredibly small community won’t garner you many new eyes, but the cost for joining the Chamber of Commerce is likely very low. If you live in a big city, however, joining may be pricey but fruitful. 25. Offer a Referral Program

Want to avoid coupons, but still want to draw in potential customers? A basic referral program can have a similar effect as a good sale or coupon.

Try offering already existing customers a chance to refer a friend. If they do it successfully, both they and their friend get a discount. This is another of my win-win offline marketing ideas: everyone comes out happy here. And, because your new customer already knows their friend is buying, they’ll trust the quality of your product/service more inherently.

#offline marketing

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imjustthemechanic · 5 years

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Our Own Demons

Part 1/? - A Bolt from the Blue Part 2/? - A Different World Part 3/? - Stark At Home Part 4/? - Pot Roast Night Part 5/? - Space-Pie Continuum Part 6/? - Energy Signature Part 7/? - Miss Potts Part 8/? - Bot from Beyond Part 9/? - Even the Odds Part 10/? - Miss Potts Arrives Part 11/? - Truth Hurts Part 12/? - The Third Reality Part 13/? - Thor and Odinson Part 14/? - The Tesseract Platform

What if Tony Stark really were the villain of the Marvel universe? How would that work? Tony himself is about to find out, as he battles his inner demons (and some outer ones, too) across a multiverse of infinite possibilities.

The Thor Tony knew had an annoying habit of summoning Bifrosts willy-nilly, with no regard for things like whether the lawn had just been mowed – so he was pleased to see this Thor do it from the top level of a parking garage, where the only thing the touchdown would scorch was the asphalt. With the Odinson thus on his way, the rest of them boarded a chartered jet to Washington, where Hill said SHIELD had something that could help them. Tony just hoped that wouldn’t be when this reality’s HYDRA infestation decided to make itself known because that would just be ridiculously inconvenient.

Dr. Ross stayed in New York, apparently having some kind of prior commitment there, but Miss Potts came with them, and so did Jane Foster. She sat across from Tony and his double, chattering happily with the hammer resting on the seat beside her.

“The prevailing theory,” she said, “is that a new reality is created every time a decision is made. Not a human decision, of course, we’re not that important on a quantum level. But every time a particle has to choose a spin state, for example, one universe branches off where it goes left and one where it goes right. The vast majority are nearly identical to their neighbours, because they’re separated by only one particle.”

“I think we’re a few particles apart,” said Tony.

��He comes from a world where Stark Industries is still a thing,” his double said.

“That’s gotta take several particles at least,” Tony agreed. “There’s other differences, too. Dr. Ross’ old boyfriend is still alive, and she doesn’t do the Hulk thing.” He paused. “And Thor and Odinson are the same person. How did that happen, by the way?” Tony nodded at Mjolnir.

Foster glanced at it. “I… I don’t know. I just picked it up,” she said. “When the hammer fell in New Mexico, Odinson went into the SHIELD compound to get it, and I went with him because they’d impounded my research and I wanted it back. He tried to lift it and couldn’t, and I really don’t know what made me think it would be a good idea to try, but I did, and I just picked it up.” She lifted it in one hand. “It feels feather-light to me, but it actually weighs nineteen point one-eight kilograms. I weighed it.”

“I see.” Tony smiled. He wondered how Thor back home would have taken it. Probably very well, really – he adored Dr. Foster. “Any theories how that works?”

“None,” she sighed, setting it down again. “I mean, I understand that on some level the hammer itself is intelligent and able to judge who is worthy, but I don’t know how you qualify worthiness. Odinson says it’s because I’m completely unselfish – all I want is to gain knowledge and share it with others. But does that affect my brain waves or something? What does that psychological quality confer on me as a physical quantity that Mjolnir can read? What’s so funny?” she asked, as she noticed Tony doing his best not to giggle.

“Sorry,” he said. “I just… for all you’re totally different, you’re also exactly the same as the Jane Foster in my reality. It’s great.” Tony looked at his counterpart, but found the other man staring out the window, drumming his fingers impatiently on the arm of his seat.

“Well, maybe we are just a few particles different, then,” Foster said.

A bit later, she got up to use the washroom and left Mjolnir lying in the aisle seat. Tony reached over and grabbed the leather strap on the handle, but when he gave it an experimental tug, it wouldn’t move. It was as if it were part of the structure of the plane.

“The airplane seems to lift it okay,” Tony observed, settling back in his seat. “You think the plane’s worthy?”

His double did not answer.

“I’m leaving,” Tony reminded him. “Soon I’ll be gone and will never darken the door of your reality again.” Was the other still annoyed about what he’d said that morning, or the simple fact that Tony had slept in closer proximity to Miss Potts than he had?

“Beth texted me,” said the other. “She wanted to know if I was okay, and then she asked if you were going to be okay and how long you’d be in town for.”

“She and I had a couple of dates in my universe,” said Tony. “Didn’t work out for us, but maybe you’ll have better…”

“Just stop,” the other told him. “You’ve done enough! If you say one more word I’m gonna get up and slug you.”

When it came to social interactions, Tony could be just a bit denser than a self-proclaimed genius really ought to, but that got through. He shut up.

They landed at Dulles, and from there drove to a warehouse in Alexandria, where SHIELD kept what Hill described as ‘odds and ends’. She let them in with a keypad, and consulted a directory before escorting them into an elevator to go down.

“What are we looking for?” Tony asked.

Hill hesitated. “So Loki came to Earth in your reality, too?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Tony. “So he must have had a gateway to enter. I got that when I had JARVIS take a look at SHIELD’s computers – they’d built this platform to try opening a wormhole, but could never get it to work until Loki can through, because there was nobody at the other end.”

His counterpart brightened. “But we’ve got a platform here, and they’ll have one in his reality, so as long as we can find a third one we can transfer him home!”

“Every so often I remember why Ginny keeps you,” said Hill with a nod. “Do you know what they did with it?” she asked Tony.

“No, but SHIELD never gets rid of anything,” Tony said.

“Even when we should,” Hill sighed. “Once we got rid of Loki we cleaned it up, put it in storage, and never touched it again. It’s still here, just waiting for something useful to do with it.”

“Then I hope the one in my world is, too,” said Tony. He wondered if that were what had given his double in the unknown third universe the idea for all of this… had he been allowed to do more playing with SHIELD’s toys, and stumbled across the secret to interdimensional travel? And having done that… what had he decided to do with it?

What would Tony do if he discovered an alternate reality on his own? Besides the scientific equivalent of poking it with a stick to see if it twitched, he couldn’t imagine. He certainly couldn’t think of anything he would go looking for there – he might go investigate his alternate self, just to see what the guy was u p to, but why would he kick that other Tony out of his reality? Had that really been an accident?

The only idea he could come back to was that the third guy’s universe had somehow gone all wrong and he’d hoped to make a new start somewhere else. Even then, it didn’t seem like a Ton thing to do. When Tony found himself having to rebuild his life after Afghanistan, he’d done so on a foundation of fixing his mistakes. Surely any hypothetical other would feel he owed it to his own reality to do the same, rather than just jumping ship. Unless there were so little left that it didn’t matter… but what could possibly cause something like that?

He knew he wouldn’t like finding out.

They found the wormhole platform in a back corner of the warehouse with boxes piled on top of it. It didn’t look particularly secure to Tony, but Hill went and checked a panel in the wall, then nodded and turned to talk to the group.

“This is normally guarded by an infra-red laser grid,” she explained, and pointed at a bank of windows overhead. “It’ll fire stun wires at you and then summon a dozen or so agents from the guard houses upstairs and on both sides. Are you absolutely confident they’ll know who you are?”

“Yes,” said Tony. “And based on what was happening in my reality when I left, I don’t even know if they’ll still be at their posts.”

His double pulled one of the boxes off the pile and peeked into it – it was, for whatever reason, full of blue and white 80’s kitchenware – then set it aside on the floor and looked the platform over. “That’s it?” he asked.

He had a point. It wasn’t a terribly impressive-looking thing. The device was quite literally a platform, with steps up to it and conduits around the edge. The only high-tech bit was the set of connectors designed to draw on the tesseract. Rather than a physical Faraday cage like the mesh in the suits, the activated platform would surround itself in an electromagnetic field that behaved the same way, distributing the energy to create a contained wormhole. It didn’t help that the equipment was scorched and slightly melted from the sheer quantity of power that had been forced through it by Loki. The demigod’s shadow was literally burned into the platform, and Tony wasn’t sure he liked the idea of standing in those footsteps.

“We’ll have to apply the tesseract in two bursts with different resonant frequencies,” Foster said. “That’ll put you in Reality D, then send you on to A, without disturbing the robot-builders in C. Theoretically.”

“Theoretically.” Miss Potts folded her arms over her chest and frowned, clearly not liking the word much. “What happens practically if it doesn’t work? Does Arno end up in Reality C with his enemies? Are more of those robots going to come through?”

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted, then had to add, “I already told you, my name’s not Arno.”

“Yeah, but we already have a Tony,” she pointed out.

Foster hefted Mjolnir, and her clothes transformed back into Asgardian armor, lightning briefly crackling over her. “I’ll get the robot,” she promised, voice echoing.

“What about you?” Miss Potts asked Tony.

“I’ll improvise,” he said. “I’m good at it.”

She was still unhappy. “I don’t want you to have come all this way just to get hurt on your own doorstep,” she said. “After all, somewhere out there is another one of me who’s depending on you.” She smiled fondly, and Tony returned the expression without even thinking about it. He’d heard that note in Pepper’s voice before. That was the way she sometimes talked about him when she didn’t know he was listening.

“She’ll be glad to have me back safe and sound,” Tony assured her. “And if I’m not, I’m sure she can come to my rescue.” She’d done it before, after all – Pepper had saved him from Stane, she’d gotten Hammer locked up, she’d kicked Killian’s ass… no wonder Rescue was the name of her superhero alter-ego. It was perfect for her.

“Good to know she’s on top of things,” said Miss Potts with a nod.

Tony’s instincts told him to kiss her, but he didn’t – she wasn’t his Pepper, and her Tony was standing just a few yards away, moving boxes with a sullen expression on his face. Tony had to shake his head a little when he saw the guy. Hopefully someday he’d grow a spine and just kiss her on a rooftop as was meant to be.

They cleared the platform, and then Foster, still in her guise as Thor, stood on top of it and summoned the Bifrost. It touched down in a roar of psychedelic colours, overlaying Loki’s scorched footprints with its own intricate patterns. There was the Odinson, holding an object that looked like a smaller version of the crystal tube Thor and Loki had taken the tesseract home in. This had a small crystal in the middle, pulsing with blue light.

“Oh, good,” said Foster. “I’ll have to thank him next time I drop in.”

“I’ve already done so myself,” Odinson replied, “but you know he likes to see you.”

Tony and his counterpart took the container and carefully connected it to the wormhole platform, with a bare minimum of speaking to each other. It was obvious that the other was still jealous, and Tony found himself very troubled by that idea. He was used to people telling him they were jealous of his lifestyle, of his money, his brains, and his superhero hobby – but they didn’t know any better. They didn’t know what each of those things had cost him. The idea that another one of him would feel the same way seemed all wrong.

So as they finished up, Tony brushed off his hands on his pants and told his double, “you’re a lucky guy, you know.”

The other glared at him. “Now you’re patronizing me.”

“No, I’m not,” Tony said. “You might not have some of the stuff I do, but you also don’t have to live with some of the things I’ve done.”

“And you don’t know a damned thing about what I’ve done,” the other said.

#fanfic #tony stark #iron man

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hymn2000 · 5 years

Text

Hope I’ve Got Something To Lose - MCU AU fanfic - C12

Story overview: Peter has an accident, and Tony makes a drastic decision. In the midst of everything, a face from the past reappears - but Peter isn’t too sure about reconnecting after everything that’s happened.

Previous chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Part of my irondad and spiderson series.

Warnings/themes: injury, hospital stuff, hurt/comfort, mental health stuff, family stuff, corporal punishment, friendship

You can also find me on AO3

Chapter 12 - Playground

Liz soon grew comfortable around Flo. Peter obviously thought a lot of her, and she could see why. Flo was obviously very posh, but she wasn’t at all snobby. Liz had worried at first that she might be a bit high and mighty and look down her nose at her, so it was a nice surprise finding that she was so genuinely nice and easy to get along with.

They spent such long time talking, it felt as though the three of them had been friends forever. After a while, they decided they should get up and do something, and the pool sounded like the perfect option, so they went off to find the grown-ups so Peter could ask for permission.

They found Loki and Tony in the second sitting room, cuddled up close on the love seat, arms round each other, kissing deeply. Peter rolled his eyes, gestured to the girls to keep quiet, and then jumped at his parents, forcing himself between them and making them break apart.

Tony just laughed. “What are you doing, chick?”

“Interrupting, what does it look like?”

Loki laughed too, pulling the boy onto his lap and squeezing him tight, kissing him hard on the cheek.

“You just want a bit of attention, don’t you, sweetie?”

Peter grinned up at him. Tony joined in the hug, kissing his other cheek.

Liz couldn’t help staring at them, a hot feeling in her chest. She’d seen the way Loki and Tony had kissed, and she saw the way they were looking at each other. She watched them as they hugged Peter and laughed with him, and she saw the way Peter cuddled up to them and acted like a silly kid. They looked so happy together, and everything seemed to make so much more sense now.

Flo saw the way Liz was looking at them, and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“Anyway, I take it you had a reason for coming in here, other than to interrupt us” Tony said. “Is everything ok?”

Peter nodded, looking over at the girls. “We were just getting a bit bored, I think. Can we go down to the pool?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Tony said, glancing at Loki. “You’re still pretty cut up under your shirt, and still pretty weak into the bargain too”

“If you think you’re up to it, I don’t mind” Loki said slowly. “But behave yourself, and go gentle. No rough play”

Peter nodded. “So... Is that a yes?”

Tony nodded. “Sure, that’s a yes. But be good, and don’t get silly”

It wasn’t till they were back in Peter’s room that Liz suddenly realised she had a problem.

“I haven’t got any swim things with me!” she said. “And I don’t think I could have a repeat of what we did at that party, either”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that” Flo said, smiling at her. “I’ve got a costume you can borrow”

“You came prepared..?”

Flo shook her head. “I’ve got a couple here. Or, I’m sure Peter has some if they aren’t to your taste”

“I don’t have girls swim stuff” Peter said. “Only the stuff you and the others leave here”

Flo opened one of the drawers of the dresser. “I’ve only got two-pieces here. I hope that’s ok?”

“Yeah... Are you sure they’ll fit me? I don’t think we’re the same size..”

“Oh nonsense, of course they will! You’re taller, and I’m broader, so I guess it evens out”

“You can hardly be described as broad!”

Flo just giggled, handing one swim set to her. “This one will suit you”

Liz took it gratefully, and then looked at Peter. “Um...”

“What?” Peter blinked at her. “There’s towels down in the cubicles, don’t worry. So. Shall we?”

Liz couldn’t help being impressed by the proper little changing room downstairs - and mightily relieved, because she wasn’t too sure about getting changed under a towel in front of the other two.

Peter was fastest getting changed, and spent a few minutes folding and re-folding towels on the bench outside the cubicles, trying to seem busy. Liz was next to emerge from her cubicle, kitted out in a very cute little black swim skirt with a matching bikini top.

“Aw, you look cute!” Peter said. “It suits you”

“Thanks” Liz smiled, blushing. “I’ve never had a swim skirt before. I didn’t really know they were a thing”

“They’re cute though, aren’t they? I think I’d like one if I were a girl”

“Why not wear one now?” Liz teased, and then had a proper look at him. “Your cuts are looking better”

Peter glanced down at himself. “Yeah, they’re getting there. You should’ve seen them right after the accident! It was pretty scary. They were still pretty scary after they’d been cleaned. Sometimes I can kinda see why dad made such a stupid fuss about it”

Liz didn’t have time to respond, because the clunk of the lock to Flo’s cubicle distracted her.

“Sorry I took so long: one of the hooks on my bra is all bent and it was a bit of a struggle undoing it!” she said.

She was wearing a little white bikini with a lace overlay.

“You look so cute!” Liz said. “Where did you get that?”

“Hm? Oh, my aunt made it! She’s a swimwear designer and she makes me little things with off-cuts of material, and this was one of them!”

“That’s so cool! Does she often make you things?”

“Lots! I’ve got so many swimsuits, you wouldn’t believe - and the less said about sarongs and sunhats, the better! I love her things, but I don’t go swimming often enough to really use everything”

“Did she make the one I’m wearing?”

“Yes. It was originally supposed to be a swim dress, but she made a mistake on the middle material, so she just snipped it out and made it a dress and bikini top instead”

“You know I love changing room talks as much as the next person” Peter interrupted. “But shall we go through?”

“Sorry...”

“Aw, don’t apologise, Liz!” Flo said. “He’s just itching the jump in and have a swim! He’s a water baby, you know”

Peter squeezed Liz’s hand. “Why don’t we shower first? Then we can go down the slide first”

“You’ve got a slide?”

“We’ve got a few! I hardly ever get to use them, ‘cos like I said the other day, usually if I’m down here I’ve got dad breathing down my neck making me train”

“I sometimes forget how rich you are”

“How rich dad is. I know, it’s insane!” Peter shook his head. “I forget sometimes too. Honestly though, this pool is what having money is about, I think. Wait till you see the fun stuff: it’s like a proper leisure pool you’d go to on a day out”

“Now who’s delaying us with idle chatter?” Flo said, shaking her head fondly. “Come on: shower, and slide. Sounds like a plan to me!”

The Stark’s pool was incredible. Liz couldn’t help being amazed, both by the pool itself, and by the fact that it existed in someones house. It seemed like something that could be a bit of a waste - but at least not while she was here. It was huge, and seemed to extend back for miles. Right at the front it looked like a regular pool, and was obviously where Peter had to train. But beyond that, the shape changed, and it was also indescribable. It was like an adventure park in a pool. There was a little hot tub type pool on one side, on a raised platform, but it paled in comparison to everything else. There seemed to be a big wall, but the pool extended through a big tunnel-type structure, made to look like rock, although Liz couldn’t see how far back it went. Looking up, she could see the big metal tube of the big slide. She was so busy taking in the first view that Peter made her jump when he spoke.

“It’s better if we go round to the side. Then we can go up to the big slide, and it takes you down to the other bit of the pool. It’s the fun bit, I suppose”

“How big is this pool?” Liz asked as they walked round to the side.

“Huge. Honestly, it’s actually a bit ridiculous. It’s massive, but the other side is just so good. I’m fed up with competitive swimming, but I’m still happy to do fun swimming. And even if I wasn’t, I think this would change my mind. Seriously, I swear I notice something different every time I come down here. Which just shows how often I use it”

“Isn’t it boring on your own? Or do you parents come down too?”

“Well. Before I was on the swim team, me and dad used to play down here, and that was fun. Daddy usually just stayed in the hot tub. May used to love it too. We carved out names onto one of the walls somewhere... It’s fun down here on my own too. And I’ve got the bunnies now, so we come down here. But not enough”

“You mean Loki doesn’t take full advantage of it?” Liz said as they started up the winding steps to the top of the main slide.

Peter shrugged. “It’s a bit of a shame, cos there’s a lot to explore, and I think he’d enjoy it, but he just... He’s always said he hates swimming, ever since I first met him”

“Either he hates it, or he’s just not very good at it” Liz said.

“He’s a god, Liz. I don’t think anything as small as swimming is beyond his capabilities” Flo said.

Peter didn’t say anything, just played with the light settings now they’d reached the top. He wasn’t about to admit it, but Liz was right. He’d found out quite by accident. It was a long time ago now, at the very end of that rocky first summer. He’d asked Loki to come down to the pool with him, and he’d refused point blank. They ended up having a huge argument, and in the heat of the moment, Loki had accidentally let slip that he didn’t know how to swim. Peter had offered to teach him, but Loki had snapped that he wasn’t going to let a snot-nosed little brat try to teach him anything, and then he’d smacked him hard and told him that if he ever told anyone, he’d kill him. Peter didn’t believe him, of course, but he wasn’t going to take the risk - and he was still scared of getting on Loki’s bad side back then.

The fading lights and the rush of water and the speed of the slide were almost overwhelming. It was like being in a different universe - and so it was quite a shock shooting out of the end of the slide and splashing into the blue swimming pool water below. Liz righted herself and turned to Peter and Flo, who had gone before her - but found herself distracted by the scenery. It was like a little cove, the walls around them made to look like rock, very high above them. There were little ledges round about, and there seemed to be little passages at all angles, leading off to who knows where.

“Oh wow”

“It’s cool, right?” Peter grinned. “Hey, there’s way more. Come on, let’s get exploring: there’s so much I want to show you!”

It really was like another world, full of twists and turns and whirlpools and little forests and waterfalls, not to mention more slides and a little pool with a fierce wave machine. Liz stared in awe. The possibilities were endless.

The three of them climbed onto a little brick-red raised paddling pool under a spray of cold water, and flopped, Peter in the middle with a girl on either side. Peter closed his eyes, feeling the cold water on his face, and the beat of his pulse in his neck and along the wounds on his front.

“I told you it was unreal” Flo said, still catching her breath. “Imagine if you’d been a little kid here, Peter! If we have this much fun now, at our age, imagine how overwhelmingly exciting this would be for a small child”

“I think it’d be dangerous for a little kid!” Liz said. “They’d get lost far too easily, and they’d hurt themselves”

She’d scraped both knees and elbows, and slipped over quite a few times over the course of their exploration, as had the others. It had felt a bit dangerous at times - or, if not dangerous, them at least precarious.

“Peter? Do you ever think this place is too big to fit here? It’s like a whole planet in your basement!”

Peter giggled. “I think technically it is still the ground floor. It is a bit funny, but I’ve gotten so used to having an upside down house, I don’t really think about the ground floor”

“This is going to sound really thick, but what’s an upside down house?”

“It’s not thick: I didn’t know the term until someone explained it. It’s like, a house where the kitchen and living room are upstairs... Ours sometimes feels a bit like a flat, because we’ve got literally everything upstairs. As far as I know, the only things we have downstairs are storerooms, and the pool. Oh, and dads lab”

“Oh, I see” Liz nodded. “...I never knew Tony Stark was so big on swimming”

“I don’t think he is, really” Peter said. “He’s much more into his sciencey stuff and his mechanic stuff... I did ask him why he built the pool once”

“Oh?” Flo sat up. “What did he say?”

“Well, he designed it when he was bored one night, and then he realised he had loads of space here, and he thought he’d mess about with the idea. He has loads of friends who are good at manual work, and he hired some other people, and it became his project. He says he’s still proud of it, because it was all done to his design”

“That’s so cool”

“The original design is amazing, honestly. It’s huge, like, he did on on like, A2 paper, and there’s two, ‘cos some of his little details and stuff he drew bigger to work out, but it’s just... It’s so detailed, all intricate with all little labels and scales and stuff. It’s all coloured in with coloured pencils and it’s just so cool. He said he couldn’t bear to throw it out even after the pool was built, and he dug it out to show me. I swear I must’ve spent a good half hour at least looking at it”

“Tony Stark can literally do everything” Flo said, sighing ruefully. “It’s kind of amazing”

“Well, maybe, but I’ve also seen him effing and blinding and almost scolding himself with a steam iron because he couldn’t work out how it worked” Peter said, smiling at the memory. “I think he wanted to kill me when he put it down and I picked it up and worked it out like, immediately”

“What about Loki?” Liz said. “Is he good at all the same stuff?”

“Um.. Well, strictly speaking, he’s not allowed to so much as set foot in the lab, and sometimes I think he’s still getting to grips with human science and stuff. He’s clever, and he’s fine with most things. I think he could be as good as dad if he wanted to be, but he isn’t really bothered. I think he’s just happy enough doing his volunteering and going to the pub and then coming home and playing the domestic goddess”

“It’s hard to imagine him running about with a feather duster”

“I think so too, and he’s my dad!” Peter finally sat up, so Liz did too. “I know he does most of the housework, but I don’t ever see him do it”

“Not at all?”

“Well. I’ve seen him do the kitchen. And I’ve seen him make my bed, but only when I’ve been ill and he’s done it. He says clean bedding helps you feel better, I don’t know” he shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t really think about housework: it’s a bit of a dull area”

“I’ll say!” Flo said. “How long have we been down here anyway?”

“God knows. I always lose track of time down here” Peter said.

“Well, it feels like we’ve been here for hours” Liz said. “I’m tired out now”

“Yeah, I am too” Peter said. “We can cut through the rock to get back”

Liz looked at where Peter was looking. The rock wall seemed no different to the other walls: solid.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious” Peter slid back into the main pool. “There’s a bit you press, like a hidden panel, and it gives you a puzzle, and then lets you through. It’s like a secret door”

“This place is so extra” Liz said to Flo.

Flo smiled and jumped down from the raised pool. She held a hand out to Liz and helped her down.

“It’s mad, isn’t it? I’ve not been through the wall before!”

“It’s kinda spooky” Peter said. “It’s fun though”

They went over to the wall, and Peter found the hidden button. It opened up a square panel, and they were faced with a puzzle.

“Ooh, slidey puzzles! I love these: I used to have lots when I was little” Flo said.

“Oh good, because I’m rubbish at them” Peter said. “They take me forever”

“Oh come on; it can’t be that hard” said Liz. “Let me see”

With three of them on the case, it took them less than a minute to slide the tiles around and assemble the picture. The panel lit up, and there was a squeaking as an outline became visible in the rock, and a big hole opened up in the wall. Liz and Flo peered in.

“It looks awfully dark” Flo said.

“It’s lighter when you get past the first bit” Peter said. “Come on”

He hauled himself up and crawled through the hole in the wall. The girls looked at each other, shrugged, and followed suit. The hole in the wall closed up again behind them, and they found themselves in a surprisingly spacious cave. They stood up, listening to the echoing drip of water.

“This is like something out of a film” Liz said, looking up at the faint pinpricks of light shining high above them.

“It’s kind of beautiful, in an eerie sort of way” Flo said, taking hold of Peter’s hand. “How do we get out?”

“We walk” Peter said. “There’s like, a bunch of different passages you can go down, if I remember rightly. It’s kinda like a dream: I can’t remember what’s real and what’s not”

They walked on, little lamps coming on and illuminating their path as they passed the motion sensors. It was like being in any old cave, the walls wet, stalactites coming down from the ceiling above them. But it was different too, with little cubby-holes in the walls illuminated with little green lights, sometimes pink - and they were certain they could hear soft music playing.

As they continued onwards, they reached a clearing, and found themselves faced with a huge waterfall spanning the whole wall.

“Oh dear” Flo said, biting her lip. “I think this is a dead end”

Peter looked at her. “No, no, I remember this bit!”

“You sound excited” Liz said.

“I am excited! The next bit is so nice once we get to it”

“Well, ok, but how do we get to it?”

Peter smiled at them and walked backwards, through the waterfall, and disappeared. Flo and Liz looked at each other.

“I feel like an idiot now”

“Me too”

They ducked their heads and walked through the waterfall. It was much better lit once they were through. They found they were now at the top of a stone-looking slide, and down below them was a pool, looking like something you’d find hidden in a real cave, all strangely shaped and rocky, but with gentle lights glowing under the water. Those same gently lit cubby-holes lined the walls, and that strange harp-and-xylophone music they’d heard so faintly before was now at it’s full volume.

“...This is so wasted here” Liz said. “This whole pool should be part of a resort or something. Everyone would love it”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right” Peter said, trying not to feel offended. “I kinda like knowing no one else has something like this though. It’s kinda special - if a bit extravagant”

“This is what happens when people have more money than they know what to do with” Flo said. “If you’re rich enough, you’re allowed to be eccentric”

“Mm... Can we leave the financial talk till later? Let’s swim”

He took hold of the girls hands and they slid down the slide together and into the little pool at the bottom. It was much warmer than the other parts of the pool, almost like a hot tub.

“It’s like a little fairy land” Flo said, floating on her back and looking up at the little lights. “It’s so beautiful”

“You need to get a waterproof camera and an Instagram account” Liz said. “There’s so much possibility here”

“I do have an Instagram: I just don’t use it much” Peter told her. “This place would be great for making little films in, don’t you think? Or doing photoshoots”

“It would certainly be an original setting, but I don’t think this is the kind of thing that you could properly capture the beauty of on camera”

“I’ll second that” Flo said, still on her back.

“Maybe I’d better try to get that waterproof camera then”

Shooting down the death slide and landing with an almighty splash in the rather normal front pool felt awfully strange and surreal.

“I feel like I’ve just returned from another world” Liz said, blinking a bit as she looked around. Everything looked so normal now, after clambering through caves and coves for so long.

“Me too, and I think I’ve got the tiredness to go with that kind of journey!” Peter said. “Do you two wanna swim for a bit longer?”

“Well, do you want to?” Flo asked.

Peter shook his head. “I’m tired. Is it ok if we get out?”

The girls smiled and gave him a quick hug.

“Sure thing”

Once mostly dry and dressed and back upstairs, still feeling as though they’d just stumbled out of a dream, the three teens cuddled up together on the sofa in the living room, blankets round their shoulders. Peter was in the middle, feeling very soft and sleepy and happy. He joined in the conversation for a while, but then fell quiet, just listening, and he soon fell asleep.

“You appear to have tired him out” Loki said, coming into the living room and finding the two girls talking quietly, with Peter asleep between them.

“I think we’re all tired out” Liz said. “That swimming pool is insane. Although I’m sure it’s more of a water park than just a pool. It’s incredible”

“So I’m told” Loki said, carefully lifting Peter up and settling him down on the armchair. “You know, you don’t have to hang about. He’s been very weak lately: he’ll probably be asleep for quite a while now”

“Oh, I don’t mind...” Flo said. “Liz?”

“Well. If he’s gonna be asleep for hours...”

“Liz is right, Flo. I’m sure you can quite easily entertain yourselves here, but Peter’s out for the count: he’s had a long day, and he needs to wind down. You should get your stuff together. I’ll ask Tony to drive you home”

#my writing #fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #frostiron #irondad and spiderson

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