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smells-like-mettaton · 3 years

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soriel, 1 (chocolate) for the ask game?

Like a Box of Chocolates

Rating: G Word Count: 2734 Read on AO3: here

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"Ok. I brought a few choices," Sans said while sitting with his back to the door. He pulled a plastic sack full of chocolate and chocolate-adjacent treats out from under his shirt.

"Oh, you did not have to do that." The voice behind the door sounded embarrassed.

"It's no big deal." He shrugged instinctively, though she wouldn't be able to see it. "Not like I candy things like this for you very often."

The lady laughed, even though the pun was a stretch. She was a great audience like that.

"I cannot argue with that. After all, it is the choco-thought that counts."

Sans let out a wheeze. Man, she had him beat in the bad jokes department. He needed to up his game.

"What can I say, I'm a sweet guy." That joke would work better if she could see his wink.

"You certainly are, my friend."

Sans blinked. He hadn't been prepared for the genuine warmth in her voice. Now he felt something like a melted chocolate himself.

"Uh. You'd better wait and make sure I didn't pick out garbage before you say that." He chuckled nervously and spread out the chocolates in the snow.

"Alright. Hit me with your best choco-shot."

He laughed out loud at that one too. She could really squeeze some mileage out of chocolate puns.

"First off we have the MTT-Brand Chocolate Mettaton. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Chocolate in the shape of everyone's favorite robot superstar." He scanned the back of the wrapper. "Contains sequins and glitter, but it's still monster food, so probably won't cause any more indigestion than Temmie Flakes. Still, wouldn't blame ya if you passed on that."

The lady laughed. "I do not know this 'Mettaton,' but he sounds like someone…"

Her voice trailed off, the way it always did when she neared a personal topic. It seemed to be happening more and more often lately. Sans didn't know if that was a good sign, or if he needed to do a better job of distracting her.

"Someone I know would have liked that," she finished clumsily.

"Welp. It's yours, then." He attempted to slide it under the door.

Attempted. The thick block of chocolate wouldn't fit through the narrow space.

"What are my other options?" The lady asked, not seeming to hear his failure.

(Or just ignoring it. The way they always ignored things they didn't want to acknowledge.)

Oh well. He'd deal with that later, if she wanted to.

He picked up the next box and rattled it. It looked thin enough to fit under the door.

"I think this one's called, uh, pocket?” He couldn’t tell for sure, since the box was labeled in a language he didn’t recognize. Where did Alphys get this stuff? “A pal gave it to me. They’re like chocolate-covered sticks, I think."

"Not precisely what I was looking for, but I would love to try it regardless," she said. "If I am allowed to have both options, I mean. If not, I should probably stick with the Em-Tee-Tee."

Sans bit back a snort. So she hadn't heard after all. That made this a lot more awkward.

"Do you wanna hear the other options first? Wouldn't want ya to have any regrets."

"Oh! There are more?"

She sounded as surprised as a kid finding an extra fry in the bottom of their Grillby's bag. He couldn't help grinning.

"Yup. Next up is a chocolate spider donut—”

“Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders?” The voice seemed on the verge of laughter again.

His eyesockets widened. “Uh… welp. Guess you don’t need the whole spiel, huh?”

“There is a spider bakesale right around the corner from my home,” the lady explained. “I believe they are saving for a… ‘heated limo’? To travel safely through Snowdin. I wish I could help them, but I did not think to take much gold when I…”

Another dead end. That was fine, Sans could piece together enough. Not that her personal life was any of his business, anyway.

“If it makes ya feel any better, they really raked me over the coals for this one.”

“It does not!” came her quick reply. “I only asked for a chocolate bar. Not for you to spend money that you need on me.”

Geez, this lady was too good for him. As if Sans ever really went out of his way for anyone.

Except Papyrus, but he was family. And sometimes Grillby, if he felt bad about failing to pay his tab for too long. And Alphys, but he owed her for screwing off after space-time blew up in their faces.

And now, the lady behind the door. The lady he didn’t owe anything to, except a few good laughs.

Who was he kidding? Those laughs were more important to him than anything.

“Eh, it just cost me one day of selling ‘dogs. Donut worry about it.”

“Very well. Since it was for a good cause, I will not grill you any further. But please tell me that was the last chocolate you purchased for me.”

“It’s the last one I purchased.” He grinned. While she couldn’t see his expression, she must have heard the but in his voice.

“Please tell me you did not steal any chocolate for me.”

“Geez, lady, what do you take me for? I’d never commit petty thievery.”

“Well, that is reassuring.”

“Yep. Gotta save room for the real high-dollar crimes. Like the illegal hot dog stand.”

The voice behind the door went silent. He wished he could see her face now more than ever. His own grin slowly slid from his skull.

“Everyone knows about it,” he reassured her. “If the King really wanted to shut me down, he’d have done it a long time ago.”

“Oh, I am not judging you for that. I am sure the law is rigged against you if the King has any say in it.” Her voice was surprisingly bitter.

His real problem was that he couldn’t ever find the necessary documents to get licensed in food preparation. His birth certificate was presumably in whatever alternate dimension his old man had blasted them out of.

“You are judging me for something, though,” he realized. The chill of the snow seeped into his bones, but he didn’t dare adjust his position. Somehow he felt that if he moved, she would disappear.

“I am not. I was only thinking about…” She sighed. “It is complicated. There was a time when I could have helped you, but it is long past.”

“Help me? Look, lady, the ‘dog stand is fine. Promise. Better than fine, since I don’t gotta pay taxes on it.”

She chuckled at that.

“Very well. Forgive a silly old lady for worrying.”

“Done.” He smiled, settling back against the door more comfortably.

He should’ve known she’d have a problem with his illegal activities, though. She was a classy lady, and he was… him. Why had he even brought it up? It wasn’t a great joke. Did he really just want her to know?

Eh, whatever. She wasn’t mad, so no harm done, right?

“I would like to know how you acquired this other chocolate, if it was not through your sticky fingers.” She sounded like she was grinning.

“Huh? Oh.” He blinked and dug out the last chocolate of the bunch. Blue dusted his cheeks. “QC—that’s the lady who runs the shop in town—gave ‘em to me for free. They’re called, uh, kisses.”

QC had a knowing look in her eyes when she’d offered the bag of chocolates to him. It was his own fault for implying they were for a girl. Everyone already thought he screwed around in the woods on his shifts, and with the way gossip travelled in a small town, everyone at Grillby’s would be asking about his girlfriend tonight.

“Kisses,” the lady behind the door echoed. “This is not one of your jokes, is it?”

“Not this time. Sorry to disappoint.” His grin felt too tight. “They’re, uh, tiny chocolates. Kinda cone-shaped? QC makes ‘em herself, so they’ve gotta be good.”

“Oh.” Oddly, the voice did sound disappointed. Sans couldn’t imagine why. Not like he could kiss her through the door, even if he had lips. And even if there was some unlikely timeline where she wanted a kiss from him.

He wanted to thump his skull back against the door, but there was no point in worrying her like that.

“In that case, I will take the kisses. They will be perfect for…”

He was sure she would leave it at that. Cover up with some non sequitur.

So his eyesockets went wide when she said, “for the anniversary of my child’s passing.”

“Oh.” He let out a strangled little laugh. “I—geez, I’m sorry. If I’d known—”

“You would have what? Spent even more money on this silly old lady, who cannot even leave to buy her child’s favorite chocolate?” Her voice was firm. “No. I thought you deserved to know, after the trouble you went to, and because you shared your own secret with me today.”

“My ‘dog stand is hardly a secret,” he said, still feeling a little shaky. She had a kid? A dead kid?

Well, who in the Underground didn’t have skeletons in their closet? Metaphorically or literally. She was still his best friend. If she wanted his pity, she would’ve said something sooner.

“Regardless,” she said. “It is in the past. Forget it, if you wish. But please do not treat me any differently.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said sincerely. If there was one thing he was good at, it was maintaining the status quo. “So, uh. These chocolates. I kind of wanted you to have all of ‘em, if that’s alright with you.”

“It would be rude to refuse a gift, would it not?” She sounded like she was smiling again, to his relief.

“There’s just one problem. Uh. Don’t think they’re all gonna fit under the door.” He rapped on the stone surface with his knuckle for emphasis.

“I did not assume they would. The recipe I gave you before hardly passed through.”

Sans blinked. “Then you—huh?”

“I will open the door just a fraction. It can only be done from the inside.” She paused, like she was gathering a breath. “I would ask that you do not look. I promise I will not peek, either.”

Sans’s ribcage tightened. She was going to open the door. She would be right there, with no stone between them.

The thought opened a desperate floodgate within him. He hadn’t realized just how badly he wanted to see her, to know her, to live off of more than just scraps and unfinished sentences.

She once had a child. She had some kind of beef against the King. She wanted to give charity to spiders, but didn’t have enough money. All these facts he filed away, tucking them into the grooves in his ribcage.

It would be enough. He’d duct tape those gates shut again, if he had to. He wasn’t going to betray the trust she’d shown him.

“Got it. You don’t wanna be smitten by my good looks, I understand,” he joked.

(He had a feeling it would be the other way around, if anything. Not that quality of jokes translated to quality of appearance—he would know. If it did, he’d have biceps like his brother.)

“It would be tragic. Much too high a price for you to handsome chocolate to me.”

“Heh, I’m sure you’re a door-able too. But I’ll keep my sockets shut, since our friendship hinges on it.”

That got a raucous laugh out of her, the kind that started off high-pitched and quickly became something of a snorting bleat. That sound was sweeter than chocolate to him.

...Man, his pals at Grilby’s would be right to dunk on him. He was a massive dork.

“Alright,” she said once she caught her breath, “if you are ready, my friend…”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Better choco-late than never, huh?”

That one only got a snort, but he wasn’t sure if that was because the pun fell flat, or because she was nervous. As far as he knew, she hadn’t been outside of the Ruins in years. And here she was, trusting a sentry—someone whose job it was to keep a look out—to turn a blind eye.

It was a good thing he’d never been good at his job.

Stone ground against stone with a dramatic rumble. His eyesockets stayed shut. Warmth emanated from somewhere near his shoulder, and he lifted the bag of chocolates.

His small hand brushed a large fur-covered one. A shiver trailed down his spine. One small touch shouldn’t have done so much to him, but—but she was real. She was more than just a voice behind a door. Which he knew, but knowing and feeling could be worlds apart at times.

She took the bag, and the moment was over. But the door didn’t close.

“My dear friend,” she whispered, her voice sounding closer than ever. “Would it be presumptuous to ask another favor of you?”

“‘Course not. Glad to do a favor for my favor-ite person.” He kept his tone light, unaffected by the swirling emotions inside him.

“If I could… oh, dear, this is embarrassing.”

He resisted the urge to open his eyes, to see what look might be on her face.

“It has simply been so long… may I hold your hand a moment longer?”

He felt the marrow heating within his bones.

“That all? I gotta hand it to ya, you made me think you needed an arm and a leg.”

She chuckled before awkwardly fumbling to grasp his hand again.

Heat poured from her palm into his phalanges. Aside from the fur, there were several spots of soft skin—probably paw pads. Was she a dog monster, like the Canine Unit in town? She didn’t make nearly enough dog jokes for that to be the case. Her laugh sounded more like a goat’s, but she obviously didn’t have hooves. Maybe she was some kind of chimera? You didn’t see those often nowadays, but then again, no one saw monsters from the Ruins, either.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice as soft as the snow that began to drift around him.

“Not disappointed?” He asked, only half-joking. “My hand can’t be as comfy as yours.”

“Ah, but it is all your bone. And that is wonderful to me.”

“Geez, old lady.” He was grateful she couldn’t see his blush. “You’re pretty fur-fect yourself.”

When she laughed, her body shook all the way down to her hand. The feeling more than made up for all the G he’d spent on chocolate and donuts.

Suddenly his hand was being lifted up, and then something soft pressed against his knuckles. His soul flared erratically, and his eyes nearly flew open. If they had, he was sure his left eyelight would have been blue from shock.

“A kiss for a kiss,” she said slyly. “It is only fair.”

“Heh heh…” His voice shook with more than laughter. “Technically, that was one kiss for a bag of kisses. Pretty sure that math doesn’t square up.”

“Oh, you are quite right! One day we will have to circle back and rectify that.”

He practically had to cast gravity magic on himself to keep his eyes from flying open.

“You—huh?” He said intelligently.

“Perhaps not soon,” she clarified. “This has all been… a lot, for me. But thanks to you, my dear friend, this day has not been so bitter as I am used to.”

“Uh, no problem, then. With all that chocolate, I hope it’s sweet.”

Sweet as the anniversary of a death could be, anyway. He grimaced. Maybe that joke was too soon, but she just squeezed his hand before finally letting go.

“I do think it will be,” she said softly. “I will look forward to hearing more of your punny jokes tomorrow.”

The door scraped shut, and he hesitantly opened his eyes. He couldn't help inspecting the door to see if anything changed. Pressing his still-warm hand against the smooth stone.

“Heh. Good luck getting rid of me now.” He grinned.

Then he tucked his hands in his pockets, where her kiss remained like a tattoo on his bone.

#tali writes #safeutdr #soriel #sans #toriel #fic tag #very happy with how this one turned out :D #hope you like it and thanks for the request!#prompt requests

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ginnyzero · 4 years

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Completely Harmless Ch. 40

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Forty Onward to Firfall!

Lily nodded at the foreman of the North Link site and looked curiously past him at what they were doing in the hills. It looked like a tunnel. Hadn’t there been a perfectly fine road around here? She pursed her lips and shrugged. There was too many boxes and debris for her to really tell what was going on.

“What do you want now?”

“To give you payment for work with actual permits,” Lily said. “And cookies.”

The foreman’s brow furrowed. “Are you trying to bribe me?”

“Fresh baked cardamom cookies,” Lily opened the box and waved them towards him. “I mean, I can eat them all myself.” She reached into the box.

“No!” The foreman shouted and then flushed catching himself. “What do you need?” His eyes strayed to the cookie box with longing.

“Bulldozers and excavators. We’ve got skips on route from Jorvik City. We need equipment.”

The foreman rubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t keep loaning you our equipment.”

“Then no cookies,” Lily pouted and shut the box getting ready to tuck it back in her saddlebag.

“Where?” The foreman barked.

“North of Dundull,” Lily smirked. She had him now. “The road to Firfall has had an avalanche. We want you to help dig it out for shillings and cookies.”

He plucked at his lip and eyed the box of cookies. “That is more than one box of cookies type of job.”

“How many boxes?” Lily asked.

“Ten,” the foreman said firmly.

“Done,” Lily grinned. She handed over the box in her hands. “We’ll lead your men there. Linda, come give this guy half his payment!”

Linda was on the phone with the Baroness. She handed over a sack of shillings to the foreman. “Other half on completion of the work,” she said as she nodded to whatever the Baroness was saying.

The foreman took the shillings, juggling the box of cookies into his other arm.

“Do you want your cookies now, or would you like to wait until we stop for lunch?” Lily asked. “Ten boxes of cookies is quite a bit.”

The foreman bit his lip. “I’ll wait,” he said as he rummaged in the box and ate half a cookie in one bite. His eyes rolled upwards. “I’ll go get the men together,” he said around the cookie and jogged off.

They made quite a parade as they left North Link, turned east at Silverglade Village, and crossed the bridge to get to the Fire Path to head towards Mistfall. The Silver Drakes on their horses were in front and to the sides of the machines. The Baroness’ car and Bjorn’s truck followed in the rear.

Meeting the Flying Foxes near Dundull, they turned North up what was little more than a logging road. At the site, there were several Rangers. They weren’t happy to see the G.E.D. uniforms. But there were several skips already in place for the debris.

Agnetha got out of her truck and revved her chainsaw. “Girls, latch onto the bushes and drag them away as I cut,” she said.

The girls took ropes out of their bags and the work began. The bulldozers treads were able to get up and over the broken stones and dirt and pushed it towards southern Mistfall. From there, the excavators picked it up to dump it into the skips. If there were bushes or brambles, Agnetha and Bjorn took them with their chainsaws, while the girls dragged them to the skips and dumped them in.

They broke for lunch. The Silver Drakes brought out the promised cookies for the G.E.D. workers.

After lunch, they went back to work. By evening, the Baroness was able to drive through Rovar’s Gap. The lights of the car hitting the forest trees on the other side.

Linda paid them and it was another odd parade back to North Link.

The Baroness insisted on inspecting the North Link work site herself. After being given cookies, and being paid a fair amount for a day’s labor, the foreman couldn’t refuse her. Not that it was wise to refuse Baroness Silverglade. They were right next to her lands and if she cared to not look the other way, they’d be gone like the oil field was gone. And they well knew it.

The road continued northwards as it should while G.E.D. were digging into the mountain towards the west. Their equipment and the debris from the tunnel blocked the road more than their excavations did.

The Baroness gave the foreman a look and ordered him to keep his workings to one side of the road so people could pass and put one of the trainees on directing the traffic. She would send someone back to make sure her orders were being obeyed.

The foreman didn’t bother trying to bluster. He hung his head, nodded, and that was that.

It had been an interesting day. Maybe they’d get some answers tomorrow about what had happened by the Weeping Widow. But no one was betting on it.

Pauline made a schedule about who was to take care of Techno each day. It was another addition to their daily chores. Not that any of them minded. Techno was a friendly dog who enjoyed the horses’ company.

The contractors were setting the walls up onto the footings they’d put into the concrete floor when they’d poured it. This apparently required a small crane. Things were moving right along and the Riding Arena hadn’t been vandalized for the second day in a row.

The grapes took priority over Firfall though. They spent the morning helping Agnetha spray the moldy grape vines (masks on, safety first) and planting roses at the end of each row of grapes. Like Agnetha had explained to the Baroness, the roses were more sensitive to fungus and rot and the like, so they’d be affected by any blight before the grapes. They’d just have to be inspected.

“Like everything else,” Elsa drawled.

Once the grapes, the Manor’s livelihood, were done. They took the transport to Dundull so they could ride up to Firfall with the Flying Foxes.

The road was long and littered with logs.

“We’ll have to clear those,” Sonja said. “If we want traffic between the towns.”

Lily nodded.

The road went between two lakes and between those lakes and another one to the north, they found the town of Firfall nestled in a fir forest. It had stone houses with large logs as bracers. In fact, it reminded Lily of a mix between Valedale and Firgrove architecture. Though it had a Tudor flair to it that those two villages lacked.

There was a stable of course.

The stable master waved at them and introduced herself as Genevieve Goldtooth. “Welcome to Firfall! You’re the first visitors we’ve had in an age.”

“That’s what happens when Rovar’s Gap has an avalanche over the winter,” Sonja said. “I’m Sonja, this is Luciana and Rania. We’re of the Dundell Flying Foxes Riding Club.” She gestured at the rest of them. “And these are our friends the Silver Drakes Riding Club.”

“Lily,” Lily said and held out her hand. “I’ll let the others make their own introductions.”

“My, there are a lot of you,” Genevieve murmured looking at them all dazed.

“Well, we’ve never been to Firfall,” Lily said cheerfully. She sobered. “Actually, as much as we’d love to explore your village. I’m here on a job from the Baroness. Dark Core has an illegal mine site to the mountains north of here. We’re worried that their dumping is putting toxins into the water. I’m here to take samples for Professor Hayden.”

“Oh, you must see our Medieval Faire first and we’ve got a pub with great food and a bunch of little shops and even a medieval market. We also have Irish Draught horses if you’re interested.”

“That sounds great,” Pauline said.

Genevieve was happy to show them around. Lily slipped away and took her samples and the north and southern sides of each lake. She capped them and labelled them for Hayden and snuck back in time for chips and burgers at the pub.

There were a couple of farmers around, Gary Goldtooth was the biggest and he kept pigs.

There wasn’t a lot of arable land around Firfall. So they relied on keeping animals like sheep, pigs, cattle, and chicken, for which they traded for grains. They kept vegetable plots of course and there were berries in the woods. Along with truffles, that’s why Gary kept pigs.

They all nodded.

“Central Jorvik is Jorvik’s breadbasket,” Genevieve dropped the information casually.

“That makes sense,” Lily said.

They thanked her for her time and rode back to Dundull.

“Well,” Luciana said. “That’s all very interesting.”

“I bet it won’t take long for word to spread that there’s a stable open in Firfall.” Pauline grinned.

“And I’m not going to take that bet.” Lily rolled her eyes.

“Why not?” Pauline pouted.

“You’re emailing pictures to Linda. I’m off to Valedale.” Lily smirked at Pauline and caught the first transport to Valedale.

Linda and Alex were talking with Professor Hayden as she approached. Starshine, the white and grey stallion, huffed alerting every one of her presence.

Linda smiled up at her. “Lily!”

Lily leaned down and passed her water and soil sample vials to Hayden. “Samples from Firfall, Professor.”

He grumbled but took them. He set to work checking them both for contaminants. All the while he muttered that he loved bugs and this wasn’t his job.

“Yes it is,” Lily said. “I’ve watched Bones.” She paused and tilted her head. “Okay, maybe he had more than one degree, but he was a bug and dirt guy and you have to know whats in the water and dirt because that’s where your bugs live. Healthy water and soil, healthy bugs.”

Hayden glared at her. “Young whippersnapper, don’t tell me how to do my job.”

“I wasn’t telling you how to do it. I was merely pointing out contrary to you whining which is very unbecoming, that it is in fact your job.”

“No respect these days, none.”

Lily sighed dramatically. “You have a valid coping mechanism in place for it. Who am I to stop you from complaining?”

Linda and Alex restrained laughter.

Hayden finished and slapped the new reports onto Linda’s clipboard. “These are for the Baroness. Not that she’ll know how to read them.”

“Then write notes in proper English so everyone can understand,” Lily looked up at the sky as if she could read the future in the clouds.

Hayden grabbed a butterfly net and stomped off.

“You shouldn’t be so mean to him,” Linda scolded.

“I’m barely being mean. He rants about youth all the time and wants us to respect him.” Lily snorted. “He’s a grouch. If he was nicer, I wouldn’t poke at him so much.”

Alex glanced about for Avalon and lowered her voice. “Is there a place that’s secure where we can all meet?”

“All?”

“I guess, we want to talk to all the riding clubs.”

“You do know that’s close to 150 girls at the moment. I’m not sure even the Council house in Silverglade can hold that many. Let me get on the phone.” Lily pulled her phone out and sent a President wide text about places to hold a meeting that was secure and could hold everyone.

Ingrid volunteered the Flea Market building in Firgrove. No one was using it at the moment and it was big enough to hold over two hundred people.

“Okay, when?” Lily asked.

“Is now all right?”

Lily sent out more texts. “Now seems good. Though Loretta says she’s got an argument in Moorland about which thirteen girls are forming a club in Firfall.” Lily muttered. “Handle it, Loretta. No. This isn’t my fault.”

“Are there any campers left?” Linda asked and cocked her hip.

“I’m not sure,” Lily rubbed her forehead. “I mean. Mr. Moorland could be replacing them as fast as they go.”

Alex chuckled. “Maybe.”

Lily’s phone kept buzzing and presidents checked in with saying they’d bring chairs or snacks or drinks.

“There isn’t room for almost two hundred horse at Firgrove,” Lily muttered as she texted exactly that.

The Timber Wolves were already on it setting up a temporary paddock out near the Fire Trail past the mine. They had rolls and rolls of fencing and poles.

“Usually we only convene the Presidents,” Lily explained. “And Vice Presidents.”

“We want to clear the air all at once.”

“Then if you want to get there first, we better go now.” Lily tucked her phone away.

They took a transport over to Firgrove and got their horses settled with Felicity at the stables. She looked baffled. “Are we having a convention?”

“Yep,” Lily said.

“Huh. Well, I’ll have Ma Anna send pastries and a bunch of hot drinks.” Felicity smiled at them.

“Thanks,” Alex said. “You think anyone will bring Cheetos.”

Linda rolled her eyes. “You and your Cheetos.”

The Firgrove Flea Market was a huge log building among all the different cottages. Ingrid waved them inside. “The others are walking up. We’ve got more chairs coming and we put up some tables for refreshments.”

It took a bit for everyone to arrive and actually get settled. Most of them goodnaturedly help set out chairs and made sure there were enough cups for beverages.

Ginny apologized to Lily that Elise Kemball couldn’t make it. She hadn’t yet moved to New Hillcrest to join the Club.

“You can fill her in later if you need to,” Lily said. “I’m not sure what Linda wants to talk about anyways.”

Alex did get a bag of Cheetos. Maya had sent them with Tan.

Linda clutched her clipboard looking slightly nervous.

“Okay ladies,” Lily spoke up. “Welcome to Firgrove. Thank you Ingrid and the Timber Wolves for hosting all of us. And there are a lot of us. Horse girl power!” Lily shook her fist.

The girls cheered at that and laughed.

“Now, I understand that there are going to be more of us soon as the road to Firfall has opened up and more girls from Moorland Summer Camp want to form a club near its pristine lake and quaint medieval style town complete with it’s own medieval fair and tourney! Which all sounds very exciting to me.”

The girls clapped and cheered more.

“More girls to join our horse army!” Lily gestured. “But, we all know that were stable girls, completely, perfectly, prettily, eh, mostly harmless. We’re a sisterhood that while we compete with each other, when push comes to shove, we ride together. Now, this isn’t my meeting. May I introduce to you, the lovely Silverglade Equestrian Center Manager, Linda Chanda and her friend Alex,” Lily paused.

“Cloudmill,” Alex supplied in a low voice.

“Alex Cloudmill, whose little brother James is part owner of Fort Pinta stables. But she’s the better sibling.”

More laughter.

“Linda, Alex,” Lily gestured and stepped to the side.

Linda cleared her throat again and shuffled her clipboard and book holding them to her stomach. “When Lily said almost 150 of you, I didn’t expect it to look like so many.” She shifted up her glasses. “Um, I should have prepared notecards. I guess we need to start at the beginning and there are a lot of different groups you’ve noticed on Jorvik. You’ve no doubt run into G.E.D. or Dark Core or the Keepers of Aideen as you’ve been working or riding about. They aren’t hard to miss.”

The girls settled in and nodded.

“So, um, you might not know that G.E.D. stands for Global Energy Domination. Not very subtle, pretty much what they say on the tin. They’re trying to take over Jorvik and the rest of the world’s energy resources. So, they’ve been mining and searching for things around the county and probably all around the island.” Linda fiddled with her clipboard.

“Like in Hillcrest,” Ginny spoke up. “They’ve got the entire town barricaded off.”

“They’re searching for things around Jarlaheim too, crystals,” Josefina said.

“And we chased them out of Moorland and the Silver Fields,” Lily nodded.

“They have dump sites all over too,” Ingrid added.

“They’re currently digging west into a mountain by North Link,” Lily said. She crossed her arms. “They barricaded of the West Jorvik Highway northwards. The Baroness has ordered them to keep one lane free going forward to restore traffic to the North Golden Hills Valley area.”

Loretta spoke up. “So, I’m going to have more girls fighting over making clubs up there next?”

“Probably,” Lily said dryly.

“G.E.D. are easy to spot. They’re as unsubtle as their name. The other group that has been causing trouble is Dark Core. Especially on the Moorland South Beach and South Hoof Peninsula North Beach, and in Valedale. Their motives are murkier than G.E.D.,” Linda said and shifted again. “Before I explain more about Dark Core, I need to explain the Keepers of Aideen.”

“The druids,” Melissa said sourly.

“The Keepers of Aideen aren’t druids in the way that other cultures understand druids. They don’t worship nature in that fashion though they are supposed to be fiercely protective of it and the horses of Jorvik.” Linda bit her lip.

Alex snorted. “Supposed to be.”

“What the Keepers are, are the protectors of the knowledge of Aideen, the Goddess of Jorvik. I’m sure you’ve seen her statue in Aideen’s Plaza if you’ve gone to Jorvik City. The Keepers of Aideen believe that Aideen gave life to Jorvik and that she bestowed magical powers upon her chosen ones and they are her Soul Riders.”

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

#star stable #star stable online #sso #fan fic #jorvik reimagined #star stable salt #completely harmless #silverglade reimagined #many nods to ruth westside #i hope I remembered everything they've said in game about firfall #it'd help if they stop changing their minds

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haltandcatchfiretothemax · 4 years

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Headcanon that after Haley moves out, Donna gets really serious about greeting trick-or-treaters on Halloween, and that Cameron fully supports her wife

CN: food, candy, alcohol use

By that time, Cameron and Donna already have some seasonal traditions, they spend all of September and October putting together elaborate couples’ costumes for Bos and Diane’s annual Halloween party, and Cameron, now a dedicated collector of Halloween decorations, gets up early every year on October 1 to unpack boxes of cobwebs, black crepe, broomsticks, gourds, cauldrons, ceramic cats and wolves, and realistic looking headstones and such and arrange them around the house and Donna’s office, and leaves them up until Veteran’s Day.

But that first year that Haley is away at grad school, over on the other side of the country, Donna drives past the local elementary school the Friday before Halloween and sees children in costume, on the playground, among them some witches and wizards and jedi knights battling each other with plastic wands and light sabers, and she turns around and goes to the supermarket and buys several bulk bags of mini-sized candy bars. They’re late to Diane’s party that year, because Donna insists on handing out the candy herself, instead of putting on her costume, and gets caught up in asking every trick-or-treater who their favorite scientist is. (The following day, Cameron emails Haley, and asks her to call home and check on her mother, and of course, she does.)

Donna throws herself into making sure that coming to their front door on Halloween is ‘an experience’ and Cameron rolls with it, even though she herself would be fine with just leaving a bowl of candy and a sign that says ‘just take ONE don’t be a WEINER’ on the front doorstep. Meanwhile, Donna gets into the habit of preparing not one but two costumes every year: a nice but less fussy trick-or-treater-appropriate costume, in addition to her grown-up party costume

When Diane tires of throwing such a massive party for Halloween, Donna puts all of her energy into readying everything for the neighborhood kids and their parents. Cameron, who liked Diane’s parties but is more than happy to go to one less party every year, starts offering suggestions to Donna, weighing in on what kind of candy they should give out, what costumes they should wear, if they should add more decorations, what kind of theme they should they should use to tie it all together

When Cameron suggests a pirate theme for 2019, Donna is very receptive (“Love that!”), she presumes that this is inspired by how they finally finished Black Sails over the summer, and Cameron lets her think that. Donna works on a colonial beach witch dress and researches what kind of candy kids ate in the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries, and Cameron gets scrap wood and figures out how to make it look like old driftwood, and fashions what look like large pieces of a shipwreck into a table for the front yard. They empty out a chest that they have in the attic, bring it downstairs, and fill it with the best tasting chocolate doubloons they can find (sensing an opportunity to put her perfectionism to good use, Cameron manages the taste-testing), packed in rough cloth sacks, ready to be handed out.

Cameron is outside at 11am on the 31st, hanging a tattered jolly roger over their front door. When she gets back inside, Donna is already in her costume, and happily scrambling eggs for them. After they finish brunch, they spend the rest of the early afternoon setting everything up: next to the chest of doubloons, the table is set with serving plates of individually wrapped pralines, pineapple shaped marzipan, candied ginger and lime peels, licorice twigs, and rock candy from a local confectioner, and there are also small cups and a keg of hard cider for the grown ups. (When she sets it up, Donna imagines Gordon commenting, ‘There was more than one Halloween where I could have used a drink while we were out trick-or-treating,’ and in her mind she replies, ‘If I recall correctly there was more than one Halloween where you drank before and during the trick-or-treating, Gordon’)

Their first trick-or-treaters, a young family of two parents, a dog, their toddler and a baby in a stroller, all dressed like The Munsters, come by at 4:30, and Donna is out there, in a gray, shabby-looking corseted dress, black buckle shoes, hair pulled into a messy chignon with all of her un-dyed gray hair out and falling into her face. Donna is sending them on their way with a ‘Happy All Hallow’s!’ when Cameron comes to join them in an old button down shirt, black britches, and a pair of colonial stockings and a tricorn hat purchased for the occasion from a local costume shop. Delighted by how Cameron managed to surprise her by secretly pulling together a fetching-looking matching costume, Donna says, “Arrr, matey!” “Arrr?” Cameron replies. “Uh yeah, hi,” she says to the family, “Happy Halloween,” and as they thank her and walk away she calls after them, “You don’t need Ap*le tv+! Also don’t sign up for D*sney+, IT’S A SCAM and they’re destroying the movie industry!” The parents look over their shoulders at her, and then rush away. “Cameron Eugenia! You can’t weird out the trick-or-treaters!” Donna snaps. “You’re not gonna say that to everyone who comes here, are you?” “Oh, what?!” Cameron rolls her eyes, “it’s the truth!”

The evening is wildly successful, they greet their neighbors, and they meet lots of new neighbors and their friends from nearby, they hand out all of their candy and get many compliments on their costumes and spread. More than one teenager tries to con their way into getting some cider, but Donna responds by putting on an old witchy voice and creepily recounting the demons she summoned and the lives she ruined back when she was ‘a young reckless witch who was drunk with power and also the demon rum’ which manages to actually scare some of the teenagers, but mostly embarrasses them and drives them away. When they leave, Cameron also reminds them, “Don’t sign up for Ap*le tv+ or D*sney+!” When their gay teenage neighbor who happens to be in his high school’s A.V. Club comes by with his younger sister and brothers, he and Cameron get into a heated discussion of a recent article they both saw about how D*ney is putting all of their recently acquired Fox titles in ‘the vault’. Their neighbor says, “That’s what piracy is for!” and Cameron says, “I agree!” and the neighbor says, “Be gay! Do crimes!” Captivated by both their conversation and this notion of being gay and doing crimes, Donna stops scolding Cameron for bringing up new streaming services. They compromise: “Cameron, you can discourage people from signing up for certain sites, but you cannot tell people to illegally stream and download movies.” Cameron grudgingly agrees.

At around 9, Cameron and Donna finally pack everything up and bring it back inside, change into their pajamas, and get comfortable in the living room with what’s left of the cider and candy, overstuffed sandwiches, and put on their own personal marathon of their favorite Halloween episodes of The Simpsons

Feeling both nostalgic and emotionally fulfilled, and also just full from all the candy, Donna rests her head on Cameron’s shoulder, and asks, “How did we get so lucky? We’re like, living the dream, we’re those old ladies who spoil the neighborhood kids every Halloween?” Cameron, who’s also had too much candy and more cider than necessary, says, “It’s ‘cause when we were young, we took a risk. And we led a mutiny.” Then, she adds,”Ha, pirates, mutiny!” She hiccups, “I didn’t even think of that, pun not intended!” A pair of gay, modern day pirate witches, they cackle together happily after a long but satisfying day.

#FOR THE RECORD: i myself will not judge anyone who signs up for d*sney+ or ap*le tv+#i will simply continue to be angered and disappointed by the companies themselves #but anyways #happy halloween/friday bbys! pls enjoy the end of the spooky season with your business partners and other loved ones!#headcanon #better living through headcanons!#cameron howe #donna clark #donna emerson

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rallis-fatalis · 4 years

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The Harvest Festival

When Fall comes around, festivities are sure to follow! Adam, Rallis, and Peg join in and spend a day at one of the many fairs Fall has to offer.

Fall was always such a wonderful time of year. The cool breeze, the colorful leaves, the chill in the air, every aspect was simple and beautiful. But Rallis was always much more excited by the human traditions that came with the change of the season than the change in weather. There were holidays and festivals and parties every other week! There were festivals about costumes and candy, pumpkin carving and eating, bake offs and whole towns dedicated to making the best food possible, and more! It was all so exciting! One such festival was being held today in Varrock. Garlands of Fall colors streaked from every rooftop and light pole, presenting the displays below. Booths were set up all around the square, some for games, some for food, some for prizes, and more. Competitions were taking place in the shopping district. Farmers brought their prized pumpkins to be weighed and judged, the local shopkeepers set up displays showing off their finest wares in a friendly competition of skill, and even food eating contests were held nearby, with one turkey leg eating contest already underway.

Adam held Rallis and Peg tight as they jumped around in excitement. He snapped at them to hold still as they yanked on his hands, tugging him in opposite directions like dogs on a leash. Peg excitedly jumped at all the shops with their shiny trinkets and toys while Rallis hopped up and down with happy screeching at the smell of the array of wonderful food wafting their way. Adam swore under his breath between their exclamations as he tried to keep them under control. Wrangling oil-bathed snakes would be easier than this! And he wasn't particularly enjoying the looks the other attendees were giving him, like that of a disgusted parent watching someone fail to keep their own children under control. Finally Adam had had enough.

"You two need to settle down now before I pick both of you up and march out of here!" he snapped and yanked them back to his side. They both whined and shrunk before their frustrated friend. "Peg, we can look at the shops later. I don't want to carry whatever you decide to get for the rest of the fair."

"So food?!" Rallis chirped excitedly.

"Fine, sure, food. Let's go."

Rallis dragged her friends along, following the amazing smells. Peg grumpily trailed after the excited dragon and her sour mood quickly turned to one of joy at the sight of all the incredible sweets for sale. Pumpkin pie, caramel apples, candy covered cakes, deep fried sweets, it was the tooth fairy's nightmare and Peg's dream come true. She and Rallis stared at the sweets, mouths watering. Adam motioned to the grilled corn on the cob and other much healthier looking snacks at the food stand across the way. "Don't you want actual food? If all you eat is candy you're going to get a stomach ache and I don't want to hear your inevitable whining."

"I'll get other food too," Rallis dismissed. "But I want pie!" She fished out some money and hastily handed it over for an entire freshly baked pumpkin pie.

Peg was staring at a slice of cake absolutely smothered in frosting, decorated with pieces of chocolate and candy, and garnished with sprinkles. Adam could feel his teeth rotting just looking at it. "I want that!" Peg said.

"Good lord no!" Adam exclaimed. "I'm not buying that diabetes brick for you! If you want a sweet, go eat some actual food first."

The girl glared at him and motioned to Rallis. "How come she gets sweets then?!"

Rallis smiled, teeth covered in pumpkin filling. "Because she brought her own money," Adam scolded. "You're mooching off me for this and I say no sweets until you get actual food!"

Peg grumpily cursed under her breath and followed Adam over to the roasted corn. He got one for them both and sat everyone down. Rallis dunked her head into the pie and scarfed it down like a rabid animal, bits of crust and filling flicking all over the table, while Adam and Peg ate in a much more civilized manner. Peg took a begrudging bite of her corn and was startled to find it tasted incredible, both sweet and savory and juicy and crunchy. It was excellent. But she was most certainly not going to tell her companion she was enjoying something healthy that he picked out.

As they sat and munched, a loud series of whirs and bells rang out, followed by excited screaming. The three looked toward the source of the commotion to find a man excitedly jumping up and down as he screamed with joy. Before him was a bicolored wheel one could spin and it was currently flashing with all kinds of colorful lights and explosions set off by runes. Another fellow dressed in a bright orange getup was screaming about big winnings and handing over a sack full of something jingling.

Peg's eyes sparkled. "I wanna go there."

Adam frowned. "It's a gambling game. In the end you'll just lose what you earned. There's plenty of other things to do here, I'm not taking you gambling."

"It's a festival, they're not going to have actual gambling you dolt. It's just a fun game and I want to play it!"

Peg nicked a few coins out of Adam's pocket and sprinted away before he could stop her. "Peg, you get back here right now!" he shouted as he ran after her. Rallis watched them go as she quietly finished her pie, giving the two now discarded half eaten corn cobs a sad glance. What a waste of good food.

Peg ran up excitedly to the colorful wheel. It had segments of green and orange in wedge shapes and a red pointer at the top. The instructions were simple enough. Bet on a color and if you win, your bet is doubled. Lose and you lose what you bet. Wonderful prizes of all shapes and sizes were piled high and on display behind the game, from small things like bracelets and tinker toys to large prizes like toy swords and shields and outfits. One of the large prizes made her laugh hysterically and she just knew she had to get it, hastily trading her stolen money for tokens for the game before Adam could stop her. She placed her bet of ten tokens on green and spun. Adam finally caught up just in time to hear the games keeper announce Peg had won and see her being handed double her bet.

"There, you stole my money and got to try your game. Happy now?" Adam scowled.

"Not yet. I've got my eyes on a prize." She smirked and pointed to one of the highest value prizes at the game.

Adam found what she was pointing at and was torn between laughing and shaking his head. "Oh you have got to be shitting me."

Peg snickered as he realized what she had. What she wanted was a to-scale toy replica of a Sophanem pharaoh's scepter. It was worth thousands of tokens. "I wonder if I could win a waterskin too!" Peg laughed.

The man sighed. "Trying to get that will take all day and I'd like to actually explore the festival. There's no way you could win all those tokens."

Peg lifted her eyebrow as if to ask if that was a challenge and silently handed her 20 tokens over and bet on green. She spun the wheel and the man rung out once again that she had won, now doubling her prize to 40.

"Another fluke!" Adam told her. By now Rallis had wandered by to watch what they were doing.

Peg bet again and won, now up to 80 tokens. "I can do this all day, moss giant."

Rallis gave the game a curious chirp. "Can I try?" she asked the games keeper. She forked over some gold and he handed her 50 tokens. She bet on orange and won. The dragon giggled excitedly and stuffed her tokens away.

"Your turn, moss giant," Peg said.

"No. I'm not gambling at a fair."

"Come on, don't be lame! Even Rallis tried it once!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rallis hissed.

Peg handed over 5 tokens. "Here, as payment for earlier. Give it a shot!"

Adam frowned at the tokens and girl but relented. He might as well try. He bet his 5 on orange and lost. The games keeper muttered something about tough luck and Peg bet her 75 on green again, winning and getting back 150.

"Wow you must be unlucky!" Rallis told Adam.

"You should try again!" Peg said.

"No way. I gave it a shot and I'm done. Come on Peg, we're going to see the rest of the fair now."

Rallis hopped giddily at that but Peg wasn't too keen on leaving the game just yet. "I'm not leaving until I get my prize!" she stomped and pointed to the fake scepter.

"Well I'm not leaving you alone here and we would like to see the rest of the festivities! So come on!"

"No! You're just mad you couldn't win! You'd want to stay if you won, but I bet you couldn't even win if you wanted to!"

Peg bet again and won. Even Rallis gave it another shot and won. Adam growled and paid for some tokens to bet with. "I can too win!" He placed his bet on orange and lost again. Peg howled with laughter. Adam glared at her. "I will prove you wrong!"

"Bet on green!" Rallis cheered. "Green like you!"

He paid for another set of tokens and bet on green, only to lose again. Rallis' ears drooped at his loss and Peg just smiled and bet on green again, winning once more.

"Green must really be my color and not yours!" Peg goaded. "I haven't lost yet! At this rate I'll have my prize before you can even win a single round!"

Now Adam was completely invested in this little competition. "Is that a challenge? Well it's one I'll beat!" He paid for more tokens and the two continued their contest.

Rallis didn't want to play anymore and it seemed they were going to be here for a while. She let them do their thing and walked off, eager to explore the rest of the fair. There was a fishing game set up in Varrock Square fountain that looked like fun. She figured she'd give it a shot.

_________________________________________________

The sun was beginning to set on Varrock and its fair. Stalls were beginning to close, fairgoers made their way out with prizes in hand, and the games were getting ready to shut down. Peg and Adam were still at the wheel of chance game, their competition tiredly drawing to a close. Adam had won a total of two whole rounds and promptly lost his meager winnings. He called it quits some time ago, but he couldn't pull Peg and himself away from the game, mesmerized with the girl's uncanny amount of luck. She had only lost as many games as he had won! And she was all of a couple more wins from getting her fake scepter. The games keeper looked tired, wanting to pack up and go like everyone else, but he kept his showman's facade on and egged the girl on.

"Only one more round if you bet it all and the prize is yours!" he cheered.

Peg confidently pushed everything forward to bet on green. She spun the wheel and looked away, more than confident it would land true. It did.

"Congratulations!!!" the games keeper cheered, a hint of exhaustion breaking into his voice. "You've finally done it! Here is your prize!" He hastily reached for the toy scepter, ready to shoo them away, but Peg stopped him.

"Hold on there a second now. I'm not done yet."

Adam and the games keeper were stunned into momentary silence as Peg scooped up her immense pile of tokens to bet again. "What do you mean you're not done?!" Adam barked. "We've been here all day to get your damn toy and now you say no?!"

"Listen, moss giant. I've got enough of these little chips to buy the town! So I'm going to do just that. Look what I can get if I bet just one more time."

She pointed to the biggest prize the stall had to offer, a chance to be 'royalty for a day.' For an entire day you would be treated like a prince or princess and bowed to, given amazing food, and more, as well as being able to buy anything from Varrock at all as long as it didn't exceed the spending limit listed. Adam was convinced it was a scam meant to make people waste their money trying to get it.

"Don't be so greedy," Adam warned. "You already have enough for your prize. You're going to bite more off than you can chew and lose everything, I'll bet on it."

"Well if you're betting on it I know I'll be right!" Peg sassed. "Compared to me your luck is awful!" She handed the games keeper her tokens, bet on green, and spun. She smirked back at Adam. "Just watch. Soon you'll be forced to kiss my feet and carry me around Varrock like a queen!"

Round and round the wheel went, pointer ticking down painfully slow. Green, orange, green, orange, green! ...With one final tick, it fell on orange. At once, all three of their jaws dropped. Luck always had to run out some time, but this was quite the painful place for it to vanish.

"Oh dear! To go from the biggest winner to the biggest loser! My sincerest apologies, my dear, but it appears you will not be heading home with any prize today." The games keeper quickly scooped and bagged her tokens and unhooked the wheel so it couldn't be played again.

"Wait! Let me try again!" Peg pleaded. "Adam give me some more money!"

"I've got no more money for you. Take your loss and live with it. I told you not to be greedy."

"Besides," the games keeper said, showman's voice gone. "The fair technically closes in a couple minutes. We have to get everything cleaned up and put away before dark. Maybe next year you can try again!"

Before Peg could complain, Rallis finally walked back over. She was clad in goodies from her fair adventure. A cowboy hat with a cute pumpkin buckle sat on her head, awkwardly folded between her horns. She had a cheap sack slung over her shoulders, bulging with all kinds of hidden goodies. In her arms were nothing but delicious fruity pies, dragon stocking up for a sweet feast for the next week or so. She even had little Fall colored leaves painted on her face like a mask, though now they were smearing from the time passed. She looked happy but also tired from the festivities.

"I can't believe you guys are still here!" Rallis exclaimed. "You don't look happy either. What's wrong?"

"Peg got greedy at a carnival game and lost her chance at a prize after spending literally all day trying to get it." Adam sighed frustratedly.

"Now the fair is over," Peg grumbled. "I didn't even get to try the candy cake."

"Forget the candy cake, we didn't get to see any of the fair because you wanted to gamble all day! I hope now you see you get nothing from gambling. I really wanted to see the archeology and history booth the museum set up..."

Rallis carefully took the top sweet off her pie pile and handed it to Peg. The sullen girl's face perked up immediately. It was the cake she wanted to try earlier, but it wasn't just a slice, it was a whole cake! Rallis smiled over her sudden happiness. "Don't eat all of that at once! I had a piece myself. You'll definitely get sick if you eat too much." She placed her pile of pies down on a nearby bench and fished through her bag of goodies. "And I got this for you!" She handed Adam a small stack of books. "The museum booth had books on all kinds of stuff, so I got you some of the history ones! They also gave me two of the Fossil Island ones since they kinda wouldn't have their exhibits without me, so you can have one too!"

Adam's face lit up over the books. They weren't some cheap paperbacks, but hardcover beauties. One was a compendium of history that reached back further than an Age! He couldn't wait to crack into them. "They're amazing. Thank you Rallis."

The dragon took the hat off her head and put it on top of Adam's current black one. "And I won this! I had a blast at a fishing game at the fountain and I was super good at it so I got way too many prizes. But I saw this and thought of you. And I got this for Peg!" She pulled out a simple black pouch with golden string. "It's called a thieve's pouch. It looks like it's just one pouch but it's actually two and no one can find the second part! It's great for hiding small things. Thessalia helped me make it at her stand."

Rallis showed her how it worked and Peg's eyes sparkled mischievously. "That's cool as hell! Thanks Rallis!" The dragon had even hidden a small stone carving of a raccoon in the hidden pouch, a trinket she bought with her tokens.

She picked her pies back up and waved her friends along with her tail, ready to take a nap. "So did you guys do anything fun?" she asked, and the three walked off chattering happily and admiring their gifts.

#my writes #oc tag #osrs #runescape

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lime-be4n · 6 years

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Falling in (part 2)

Thank you to @crimsonbluemoon for proofreading, you should go check out their work.

My house is not the nicest my house isn’t the nicest on the block, but it fits my current needs. If I were to live like the amount of money I had, life would be exponentially diverse, to the one I currently live. My money can be seen through my dog, I buy the best for her and only the best.

I feed my dog, depending on my mood for the day: beef, chicken, and the occasional fish. I cook them most of the time, without seasoning, or if I feel great compared to other days I can grill it. Though I do give her everything she wants, that does not mean that she is spoiled. She is actually a service dog, she served in many missions, and she is also an emotional support dog. She can tell if I’m in a bad mood even if I feed her the same food. I don’t think I could ask for a better dog, she’s around her adult age, which is good and she’ll stay around longer.

I grab the door handle wearily. I hope my baby is okay.

The door creaked, like always, but there is something missing from my normally welcoming home. I stepped in and paused. At this moment Baby would run at me, barking, and jumping into my arms; but the house was silent. I took a gulp. “B-Baby?” My voice cracked and my eyes watered. “Hey Baby! I-I’m home!” I left the door open and walked to the kitchen looking. “Come on Baby! Please?” The kitchen was empty.

My mind was everywhere at once and the thought of every worst possible scenario ran through my head. Could it be possible those people knew where I live? I need to think positively. Then suddenly, I heard a bark on the second story; I wasted no time rushing up the bamboo wooden stairs. I panted as I called out to her once more,”Baby! Where are you sweet pea!” The bark was much louder now. It came from my ‘spare room’, I slipped through the halls and slammed open the door. “Baby?” I try to calm my breathing. She growled this time, she never growls. But I couldn’t see her, she was possibly in my safe room. But there is no way she could have gotten in there without…. My breath hitched; I’ll open the safe and let her out, as long as she’s safe I don’t care what happens to me. As I thought that she whined. “I’m sorry Baby.” I punched in the code and opened it, the wall clicked and pushed itself open an inch. I solemnly swing the door open and there she was.

Baby was wearing a muzzle and was held back by the man named Craig, the only thing different about him is the fact that he’s wearing a suit of armor. My Armor. But I let that slip past my mind, he was holding my baby hostage. My Baby. I made myself weary of my actions, I can’t have my baby getting hurt. I clenched my fists. Then remembered that I need to calm myself if I was going to get out of this situation.

A person was behind me, I could tell by their constant shifting or slow steps as an attempt to get closer to me. Wrong move. I grabbed the person, or known as paper bag head, by the vest and flipped him over. That then caused the other man, plastic bag head to attack me; his attacks were off as if they were new at brawling. Nonetheless, I did the same, in turn flipping him onto the other tall one. An ‘OOF’ came out of the paper bag head man. I was about to rotate my position when a click echoed the room.

Craig held a gun to Baby’s head, she whined. I whipped my head to her, tears dampened her fur. I was filled to the brim with fury, but not willing to bet her life for a small mistake a could have made, I looked down and raised my hands to where everyone in the room could see. “That’s more like it,” a voice from behind me, Irish. “Yeah, Finally. Now we don’t have to hurt anyone.” the African- American monkey masked whispered to the Irish cyborg looking one. I flinched at the diction of the two; I growled. The Irish apprehended me.

“Will you let her go?” I managed to bark out. My arms didn’t hurt a bit- gymnastics paid off, and soon go will soccer.

“Huh?” The cyborg Irish responded. My body tensed, “Will. You. Let. Her. Go.” He should have listened to me the first time. He finished tightening the restraints, “Duh, who do you think we are? Huh? Monsters?” He joked, clearly comfortable with the situation I’m in. “Calm your tits, dude. She’ll be fine.” He grabbed the rope that held my wrists together and lifted me up; yikes, the rope is not the securest thing to have. “Bad move ‘dude’” I kick him where the sun doesn’t shine and slipped my wrists through the holes. I then grabbed Craig’s gun and pointed it at him. “You should know, I don’t mi-” I was interrupted by a pain in my neck, I slowly reach towards and tore it out. “A vile?” My vision slowly pulsed as I turned it, fiddlesticks.

My vision then disappeared with the sound of a gun hitting the floor and the picture of a cartoon bear with a familiar face on it stuck in my head

3 1 18 20 15 15 14

My luck couldn’t get any worse.

~-~-•-~-~

What. The. Flapjacks.

I reach to grab my throbbing head. But I can’t. In fact, I- “ Can’t feel a thing?” I twitch, that was none of the voices I heard at the alleyway or house.

My head continues to throb.

My eyes are open but I can’t see, I’m wearing a blindfold- no, a sack; a potato sack. My wrists were chained, prison chains, to the floor. There’s no way I got caught already! I’m better than that.

Throbbing

The man pushed my head down to face my lap, gripping to the sack and my hair tightly. I winced a bit, “Do you know why you’re here? Hm?!? Do you?!?” I bit my lip, I won’t give him the satisfaction of hearing my voice.

It hurts.

I tried to kick but my shins were clamped to the chair. I’m immobile. He then yanked at the sack to look up while hunched over. My chains pinched my skin, I could feel the ripping and busing of it. Dill Weed!

Everything hurts.

The chains started to chatter, he’s not shaking me. I am trembling. “What’s the matter? Can’t take the heat?” Mocking me. There should not be any reason why I’m wavering, nor in pain for that matter. I have been ‘investigated’ many times to where I’ve built a thick skin- a tolerance. I don’t quite understand, did they drug me? He then finally let go and a couple of steps back. “In case you were wonderin’, usually skinwalkers are so fucking weak to this crap.” He then threw an empty metal bottle in my direction, it slowed to my feet.

Somehow, I feel insulted, for my loss of sight, but then again he called me a skinwalker.

What in the name of leaping lizards is a skinwalker?

#fan fiction #fanfic #h2o delirious #IAMWILDCAT #mini ladd #daithi de nogla #terroriser #basically i do wrk #smii7y #falling in #delirious's dog

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mrsluthordanvers · 7 years

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empireofourown-100 replied to your post “If anyone has supercorp prompts/oneshot ideas send ‘em my way and I’m...”

How about Lena brings home a cat. Everyone loved the Kara brings a puppy home idea, but I a so here for a Danvers sisters freak-out when Lena reveals she's a cat person

“Kara?” Lena stuck her head around the door listening for any sounds indicating Kara had beat her home from work. When silence met her ears Lena stepped inside placing the large paper sack she carried on the counter, motioning to her driver to do the same with the bag and carrier he held onto.

Unloading the paper bags Lena pulled loose a small mat with rubber backing, pacing around the kitchen before finding a small corner it could tuck into. Pulling loose a couple small silver dishes Lena placed them gently on the mat. Digging through the paper bag again she pulled loose a bag of food, unrolling the edge she used the stainless steel scoop she bought at the store to shovel some food into one of the dishes, filling the second full of water. Placing the food back on the counter Lena moved to the carrier.

Gently opening the door Lena coaxed out a little white kitten with brown socks. She smiled as she looked over the kitten standing hesitantly on the counter looking like it had just walked a mile through the mud. He reminded her of Kara when she came home in her Supergirl suit, a giant grin on her face caked in dirt from some fight with another alien. Scooping him up Lena stroked his soft fur until she felt him purring against her chest before putting him in front of his food and water.

“There you go little guy.” Lena smiled again watching him sniff his food before taking a tentative taste and walking away to explore the apartment.

Leaving him to wander around Lena found a home for the carrier in the front closet, next to her and Kara’s shoes. Rearranging the kitchen, an entire shelf was cleared out and filled with the variety of cat food Lena had been unable to choose between at the store, and instead buying a bunch of each. The small pillow she bought found a home on the floor next to her side of the bed. Unloading the remains of the bags Lena spread little felt fake mice around the apartment, placing the scratch pad on the ground in the corner by the tv where she hoped it would prevent him from scratching her expensive furniture, and finally tracking him down in the bathroom, Lena buckled the thin red collar she bought around his neck, already set with engraved tags with her and Kara’s phone numbers on them.

Folding up the paper bags and placing them in the recycling Lena poured herself a glass of wine before taking in the apartment. The changes were so subtle Lena wondered how long it would take for Kara to notice the new addition. There was still a half an hour left before Alex and Maggie were expected for movie night, Kara too if she was with them. Taking advantage of the time Lena moved to the couch, calling Kara’s favourite places for a delivery of pizza and potstickers.

“What should we name you?” Lena asked the kitten as she lifted him onto the couch with her, scratching under his chin. “Should we wait for Kara before we make a decision?”

The kitten purred as he pushed his head into Lena’s head, turning so she scratched around his ears. The sound of laughter and the door unbolting sending him off the couch somewhere into the unknown of the apartment. Lena shook her head as she sipped her wine waiting as Kara, Alex and Maggie funnelled in.

“Hey Lena! You’re home early!” Kara grinned, leaning over the back of the couch to give Lena a kiss. “We were just talking about ordering food. Any requests?”

Lena shook her head, “I ordered pizza and potstickers already. They should actually be arriving any minute. I hope that’s alright?”

“That’s perfect.” Alex sat on the couch, her and Maggie already helping themselves to the beers left in the fridge just for these occasions.

“I didn’t know you guys got a cat,” they were half way through the second movie when Lena looked up to see Maggie standing behind the couch holding the kitten. She had got up to get fresh beer for her and Alex only to become acquainted with the little guy when he snuck out of hiding and started rubbing against her ankles.

“Cat? We don’t have a ca-“ Kara turned away from the tv, brow immediately crinkling as she looked at Maggie holding a small white furry body.

“Well, either you have a cat. Or another animal followed you home Kara.” Maggie laughed as she walked around to sit next to Alex settling the kitten in her lap.

All eyes were on Lena as she shrugged, “Jess’ cat had a litter and she asked if I would be interested in adopting one.”

“What?!” Kara lifted herself away from Lena, “You said you didn’t want a pet!”

“I said I didn’t want a dog.” Lena clarified taking as she took a gulp of wine.

“So you got a cat?” Alex asked giving the kitten a sideways glance, almost suspicious of its mere presence in her girlfriend’s lap.

“Yes.”

“But dogs!” Kara threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “They’re just so cute! And Fluffy!”

“He’s pretty cute and fluffy.” Maggie grinned lifting the little body. “I mean loooook at him. He has little brown socks!”

“Actually,” Maggie nudged Alex in the ribs, “doesn’t he kind of remind you of Kara when she comes back from a fight all covered in dirt?”

Lena laughed almost choking on her wine as Kara glared at her, huffing and crossing her arms.

“Oh give him a chance.” Maggie held him towards Alex until she gave in petting the tiny head, smiling when he started to try and wriggle closer.

Lena stood taking the kitten from Maggie before returning to sit crosslegged across from Kara holding the little guy under her chin so they could both fix her with their big pitiful eyes.

“Please?”

“You already lost Kara.” Alex laughed as she looked at Lena’s puppy face that could give Kara’s a run for her money.

“Fine!” Kara sighed as Lena placed the kitten in her lap, trying to hide her excited wriggling as he started to climb up her body, not wanting to give in so easily.

“What’s his name?”

“I haven’t named him yet.”

“Fluffy?”

“No!” Alex laughed as Kara shuddered, the memory of scaly snake skin still too fresh in her memory.

#empireofourown-100 #supercorp #supergirl #supercorp fanfiction #supergirl fanfiction #nemo writes #this was an adorable prompt and I hope this did it justice

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starsinursa · 6 years

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11 questions tag game!

THE RULES ARE SIMPLE

1. Post the Rules. 2. Answer the questions given to you. 3. Make 11 questions of your own. 4. Tag 11 people

Begin!

I was tagged by both @saawek and @jemariel, so I’m going to answer all of the questions together in one post. 😊 Thank you, lovelies!

1) How and when did you get into fandom/fanfiction/shipping?

Oh god. 😂 It all started when I was 14, playing Kingdom Hearts on Playstation 2, and one day I stumbled across some Roxas x Axel fanart on DeviantArt. At first, I was confused. Then I was intrigued. Then I was hooked and the rest was history.

2) What was your dream job when you were five years old, and why?

I always wanted to be an artist, probably until I was halfway through high school, and then I veered more towards writing. I haven’t drawn in years, I really wish I had kept practicing, because now I suck and can’t draw for shit.

3) If you had to only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you eat? (Assume that nutritional needs will be met by this food.)

That’s tough… maybe ice cream? Am I allowed to eat different flavors? That might give me enough variety to keep me entertained.

4) Roughly how far from where you grew up do you now live?

I live about 140 miles/ 2 hours away from my hometown, so not too far, I go home to visit my mom every couple of months.

5) What’s your usual breakfast?

…coffee. I never eat breakfast, I don’t eat until lunch. I know, I know…

6) Cats or dogs? (Or other?)

Both! I have one of each! 😊 Although tbh, I’m more of a cat person, they’re a lot more low-maintenance and a little better suited to my two-job lifestyle, even though right now I’m lucky enough to have a great aunt who babysits my dog for me on the nights I work at my second job.

7) Favorite holiday?

Hmm, probably Christmas. I just like the feel of the season, even though I don’t really decorate or do anything too festive. I just like the Christmas atmosphere. You wanna hear a funny story about laziness though? The two tricks to never having to take down a Christmas tree are: 1) never putting it up in the first place (that’s my method), and 2) never taking it down (that’s my mom’s method, if I visit her house in, like, May, her Christmas tree will still be up, she literally just leaves it up year-round).

9) What is your ‘happy place’?

Probably just my house. I love coming home after work and decompressing in a quiet, empty house. As soon as I’m through the door, pajamas are going on, I don’t care if it’s only 5 p.m., and I hope I don’t get any visitors because I’m not answering the door for anybody.

10) Favorite song to sing when no one else can hear you?

I’ll sing anything… pop songs, Disney songs, showtunes… I go through phases where I’ll sing one soundtrack constantly for about a week at a time. People will pop their head into my office and be like, “Are you singing Beauty and the Beast?”

11) Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

That’s a tough one, I always change my mind depending on whether it’s winter or summer at the time!

1.Weirdest idiom of your language

It’s hard to choose, we’ve got a lot of weird idioms. “In a pickle”, “under the weather”, “when the fat lady sings”… who is the fat lady and why does she have to sing?

2.Fuck (or cuddle) Marry and Kill with : Godstiel, Demon!Dean, Lucifer!Sam

Hmmm…I’m gonna kill Lucifer!Sam (sorry Sam, it’s not you, it’s Lucifer), fuck demon!Dean (hooo boy, you know he’d be insane in the sack), and marry Godstiel.

3.Same question but with : Castiel, Sam or Dean (i’m not THAT sadistic)

AAAGH. This one is HARD. I guess…if I HAVE to choose… I would kill Sam (I’m so sorry, Sammy, I love you, I just don’t particularly want to fuck or marry you!), fuck Castiel, and marry Dean. Honestly those last two could go either way, but I picked marrying Dean because I feel like I have more in common with him, we could totally spend our lives together watching Star Trek, reading Vonnegut, and hitting up stripclubs.

4.What’s your zodiacal sign?

Leo, but I don’t feel like a Leo at all, it doesn’t really fit me.

5.Tell us an embarassing but funny moment you lived recently or years ago.

One of my friends loves to tell the story about my 24th birthday, two years ago, when I pounded back grapefruit vodka, margaritas, and limoncello, proceeded to whip my boobs out in the taxi, puked on the subway, and then when we went to a bar called “Sneaky Pete’s”, I spent the entire night calling it “Stinky Pete’s” and cackling about it. That night was full of regret and shame.

6.Which fictional characters do you most fancy (or find very attractive)?

Definitely Dean, of course. Deep at heart, I’m ultimately a Dean!girl. Cas is an extremely close second. I’m also pretty sweet on Spock. I’m sure there are more, but those are the big ones.

7.Destiel is now canon, do you mind?

Umm, definitely not. I’m probably rejoicing in the streets, drunk out of my gourd, crying tears of happiness on the shoulders of strangers.

8.You got an unlimited access to money and power, what do you do? (see question 7 to have some ideas on what to buy)

Are you suggesting I buy the CW? 😂 Because that’s…not a bad idea. I would also pay off all of my bills and student loans, and then do the same for everyone in my family. I would donate a bunch of money to my favorite animal shelter. Then I’d travel the world.

9.An urban legend or a myth around your area?

We actually don’t have any close for where I live. Not that I’ve heard, at least. I mean, there’s the whole Stull Cemetery thing, but that’s a couple hours away. My city is pretty boring on the urban myth front.

10.Why do I have to ask you 11 questions? It’s fucking hard.

“It’s fucking hard.” That’s what she said. Eheheh.

11.Can you give me a cookie?

I don’t have any cookies, I’m sorry!

Now, my 11 questions for YOU to answer:

1. What is the best compliment you’ve ever received, the one piece of praise that really sticks out in your mind?

2. Weirdest food/ food combination that you love?

3. What would your spirit animal/ totem/ patronus be, and why?

4. Favorite dirty joke (or clean is fine, if you prefer)?

5. If you cosplay/ ever got the chance to cosplay, which character would you be?

6. One of your bad habits?

7. A song that always makes you feel nostalgic?

8. How did you choose your tumblr URL?

9. Is love at first sight a real thing? What about true love/ soulmates?

10. The book/ poem/ fic that changed your life?

11. What is the one piece of advice that you think everyone should hear?

Now I’m tagging 11 cool people I’d like to know better: @aldehydean, @rosewhipped22, @threshie, @castielismyfavouriteangel, @robotsnchicks, @santamadredidios, @holamishamigos0, @beefcakemish, @60r3d0m, @casthewise, @goodtidingsdean

#about me quiz thingy #i've been tagged #tagging others

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bangkokjacknews · 4 years

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The dog-meat trade in Vietnam, are attitudes finally changing?

The #dogmeat trade in #Vietnam is sparking an increasingly heated debate, both among Vietnamese and in a wider international community.

While the consumption of dog meat doesn’t necessarily denote cruelty to animals, high and rising demand is driving a lucrative but largely unregulated meat market across the country. Roughly 5 million dogs are slaughtered for human consumption each year in Vietnam, according to the Asia Canine Protection Alliance (ACPA). In the absence of any animal-rights laws to protect them, traders are free to prioritize profit over humanity – and many do. “The dog-meat trade is governed by demand,” said John Dalley, co-founder of the Soi Dog Foundation, one of five members of ACPA. “You know, it’s a business. It’s demand, consumption and supply.” Before selling dogs to restaurants and slaughterhouses, (a Bangkok Jack Report) traders often pump the animals’ stomachs with liquid rice while they are still alive to make them heavier so as to earn more money per kilogram. The logistics of the trade can be even crueler. “Nine or 10 dogs are stuffed into a single cage and loaded on to trucks. Legs are hanging out, heads are out, literally over a thousand dogs per truck,” Dalley said. ACPA advocates for a ban on dog meat on the grounds that legalization would fail to end the abuse or address the health risks associated with the trade, including possible bacterial infections such as anthrax, hepatitis and leptospirosis, or even contraction of rabies. Regulations Vietnam has various regulations that apply to parts of the dog-meat industry, but enforcement is weak and easily bypassed, says ACPA coordinator Lola Webber. “The existing trade in and slaughter of dogs fails to comply with many of the compulsory animal-disease prevention measures,” she said. “In addition, the law requires that animals being imported, transported domestically and exported must be quarantined.” A key part of ACPA’s work is to encourage the enforcement of these quarantine regulations, in the hope that a costlier and less convenient supply chain will stunt the trade by incentivizing traders to leave it. “ would raise the traders’ costs,” Dalley said. “Their logistics problems would become very difficult – we’re talking thousands of dogs a week, and you’re going to have to keep them somewhere before you can transport them, you’ve got to have them all vaccinated…. If it is enforced then it’s going to put the price of dog meat up.”

An estimated five million dogs and cats are slaughtered and eaten in Vietnam every year. Most of the animals are snatched street animals or pets kidnapped from owners’ yards or gardens One of the most common and perhaps most dangerous arguments against the dog-meat trade in Vietnam and in wider Asia is that eating dog meat is somehow immoral. In fact, for many Vietnamese eating dog meat is perfectly normal and often considered a delicacy. Hal Herzog, an expert in anthro-zoology and leading psychology professor, says dog-meat consumption is a matter of culture. Tasty “Humans have been eating dogs for a long time,” he told Public Radio International. “It’s quite possible dogs were originally domesticated because they were tasty, but could also do chores.” Indeed, a tradition of eating dogs has been handed down from generation to generation in Vietnam. Long, a self-professed dog thief who sells canine meat to traders and middlemen, explained the intricacies of “how to cook a dog” at a meat shop in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh district. Huge fleshy chunks of dog meat retail for around 90,000 dong (US$4) per kilo at the shop. “Buy lemon, wine, garlic, chili, galangal, lemongrass and la mo , chop finely and mix it with the blood of the dog. Put everything inside the guts, tie it into pieces and boil it for around five minutes.

A dog meat restaurant in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Bảo Hoa “I can prepare the meat for cooking in just 15 minutes,” he said, a dog under one arm in a green sack. “First you slit the throat quickly and let it bleed out, then boil some water. If a dog weighs 10kg I will prepare 7 liters of water … add some more tepid water and put the dog into the pot.” In this way, he explained, the fur is easily removed from the animal without cooking the meat. Then the dog chef removes the head, knuckles and internal organs and cleans the meat, preparing it for a range of delicately designed dishes. While he is technically a career thief, Long doesn’t perceive his work as particularly immoral and is genuinely passionate about dog meat. “I have been doing this for over 30 years. My father did it before me, my grandfather before him.” Exotic As Vietnam becomes wealthier, dog consumption is becoming more mainstream. Dog meat was once considered quite exotic, but is now far more accessible, less expensive and increasingly popular with lower-income demographics, according to Tran Gia Bao, Vietnam representative for the Soi Dog Foundation,. “Dog meat used to be a somewhat special occasion for male workers or friends to gather at the lunar month, but now it’s moved down to a broader market,” said Bao, “like construction workers, laborers and students, and it’s getting cheaper and more street-food style.” Despite clear links to disease, dog meat has nonetheless gained a reputation among Vietnamese consumers as a widely available, protein-rich, healthy alternative to other meats. It is also believed to be medicinal, to increase a man’s virility, and to warm the blood in cold weather, and is often associated with cultural superstitions. Most commonly, however, it is viewed as a tasty accompaniment to beer and good company. Still, attitudes are changing in some quarters. According to a recent VnExpress poll, 95% of respondents agreed the trade should be banned because it is illegal and barbaric. “You cannot justify boiling, cutting limbs off skinning dogs and cats alive,” said one poll taker. Of the 5% who voted against a dog-meat ban in the poll, many argued for legalization. “Pushed deeper underground, that black market will simply keep on thriving, and the dog-meat trade will get ever more pernicious for society,” another voter commented. Technically illegal Given that parts of the trade are already technically illegal, it is unlikely that regulations would be enforceable if the trade were legalized, ACPA says. For example, although some thieves are arrestedon connected charges, theft as a criminal offense often doesn’t apply to dog thieves. “Punishment for theft … only applies to the theft of goods that have a value of over 2 million dong,” or $88, said ACPA’s Webber. Regardless of whether a ban on dog meat would end the trade or not, society’s attitude toward domestic animals could still put them in danger of being traded or abused. Leopold Vincent, founder of the Vietnam Animals Cruelty shelter, says this attitude may be more related to the notion of ownership than love. “The dog is their property,” he said. “ it doesn’t mean that the dog won’t be sold to a restaurant or killed for consumption.” Families sell their dogs In fact, it is common for Vietnamese families to sell their dogs to traders as they would livestock, particularly in rural areas. “If the dog is noisy, if the dog is sick, if the dog is old, they sell it,” he said. “You know, there is the guy on the motorbike with the basket behind and he calls to people, ‘mưa cho đay’” (buy dogs here). Vietnam’s animal-rights community sees changing social attitudes as key to one day banning the trade. Paws for Compassion (PFC), a charity based in Da Nang, fights for animal welfare by teaching children more compassion for the animals around them. The general attitude is “that there are many around, so if the one I have is sick, hurt, or just not as I want it to be, throw it out and get another one,” said one of PFC’s co-founders. “We fight for animal welfare through education because … we feel that when kids interact with animals at a young age, they learn compassion, and that will cause a ripple effect.” ACPA employs a similar approach, but with an older target market. While progress is slow and the issue complex, ACPA believes attitudes toward dogs are beginning to change. “What we’re seeing across Asia actually is a growth in the pet industry,” said ACPA’s Dalley. “You’ve also got young people now, certainly the educated young people, who are far more animal-welfare-conscious.” - AsiaTimes – You can follow BangkokJack on Instagram, Twitter & Reddit. Or join the free mailing list (top right) Please help us continue to bring the REAL NEWS - PayPal Read the full article

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thirstyfortom · 7 years

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High School Band AU: Chapter Two

There you go, fellas! Time to meet the band buddies! I’li be back with some scenarios a little later! See ya ;)

Okay, if anybody ever asked you how you would imagine spending your Saturday afternoon, the last thing you could ever think would be having a sack over your head on this very hot room. Where are you? In a basement?

“Fellow members, we are assembled here today to confer the honor of initiation upon MC. May her voice guide us through a victory without precedents in Daykey High School’s history. May her talent and charisma lead us to a journey of paying gigs, whether in money or in coupons from the donut store.”

“Or in tepid beer.”

“Thank you, fellow member Zen. Let your wishes be granted as well. Now, may the chosen one step forward.”

Oh… is he… is he talking about you? You step on what you think it’s forward.

“Oh, chosen one, let your voice be heard!”

“I… don’t really know what you want me to say.” Your voice is muffled.

“Saeyoung, I think we got it. Just take this out of her face before she asphyxiates.” The only female voice besides yours speaks.

“But… she didn’t even drink the blood!” Saeyoung whines.

Now you know this initiation ritual apparently was Saeyoung’s idea, you’re worried about having to drink actual blood. Who knows? That guy felt a little crazy, finding you behind the curtains like a sniffer dog looking for drugs, and talking about biting you… yeah, you know it was a joke, but… who knows? The guy is weird…

“B-blood?” you take the sack out of your head.

“No! You can’t take it off before Jumin makes your welcoming official.” Saeyoung whines dramatically.

“She’s welcome, just get rid of the sack.”

“Ah, you’re no fun! Here, just drink the blood. Don’t worry, it’s wine. Actually, don’t worry, it’s grape juice. Yoosung couldn’t buy the wine.”

“I told you to send Zen.”

“Yeah, yeah, lesson learned… so hey! Welcome, MC! Are you excited to be joining us?”

“I was excited when you texted me, then you put this sack over my head and basically kidnapped me, and I’m not excited anymore.” You hear some chuckles from Zen and… Jumin? The intimidating brunette just laughed of your little joke?

“Too bad, you should be excited about joining the jewel in the crown of Daykey High School! The amazing band Mystic Messenger!” yeah, you didn’t get used to the name yet…

“It’s pretty cool, indeed. I hope you can forgive Saeyoung’s methods and enjoy where you find yourself right now, MC.” Zen says, it’s the first time he sounds serious and not like trying to desperately say something flirty… it’s pretty comforting.

“Thank you… I… honestly thought you would never want to see my face after the way I behaved. It was childish…”

“Don’t forget foolish.” Jumin adds.

“And kinda of overdramatic.” That coming from the guy who was talking about drinking blood for a initiation ritual a minute ago?

“Yes… it was a bitchy behavior. And I apologize to you all, but mainly to you, Jumin and…” you look around trying to find the other twin, but he isn’t here.

“I’ll forgive you when we win the festival.” Jumin says bluntly. Uhm… he is still pretty mad, isn’t he? So why did he even agree on you joining the band?

“The festival?” you ask curiously.

“Yes, the winter festival for high school bands! It’s so cool!” What’s the blonde’s name again? It was a pretty name… Y-Yoosung, right? Yoosung seems to be the type who gets super excited easily, usually people like this annoy you, but he also seems so sweet, totally the boy next door, and definitely not annoying at all.

“We participated last year and placed second, but things were a little different, we had a different vocalist and a different bass player.” Jaehee explains. Oh yes… V was the bass player and created the band. Which one here plays the bass now? If you had to guess… Jumin?

“And you’re counting on me to win this year?”

“Basically, yes.”

Wow, it hits you like a rock. This group of people is really betting on you to get for them something they let slip away before… they… trust you. And they don’t even know you that well… when was the last time somebody hand you something so important and meaningful? No, actually, did this ever happen before?

“But no need to feel pressured, sweetheart. We still have time to rehearse and get you ready. If you ever feel burdened, come to me, okay?” hum, the Zen’s flirty tone is back again… or maybe he’s just like this and doesn’t even notice some people can really take him seriously… are you taking him seriously?

“Yes, if she’s burdened, the first thing she would need is your constant urge to make a move on freshman girls.” A-ha! Jumin is thinking the same as you, he just puts it on a more intellectual way. By the way… why does he talk so formal? It’s funny…

“Ahem. Anyway, MC, just know we’re not waiting for you to just get up on that stage and slay, you’re talented, but you also need practice, we all do. And we will practice and walk through this together. “ Ah… Jaehee, you thought she was one of those really mean ice lady like girls, but… she’s super nice. What instrument does she play?

“Well, I’m not worried.” Yes, you are. “Progress, not perfection.”

“This sounds like an AA mantra…” Saeyoung teases you.

“Well, Saeyoung, the first step is admitting you have a problem, yours is making nonsense jokes about alcoholism.” He widens his eyes, uh oh… is a comeback coming? Wait for it…

“Yes, you’re right. Alcoholism isn’t funny.” He scratches the back of his head, visibly considering what you said. Uhm… maybe he isn’t as impossible as you thought.

“Alright then. She’s officially in…”

“She’s not, she didn’t drink the blood.” Saeyoung says, going back to what you know him for.

“I don’t give a damn about the blood. Anyways, welcome, MC. We’re glad to have you here, well, not exactly here in Yoosung’s basement, but we’re happy to have a new and promising vocalist.” Jumin says and smiles softly. Oh… he knows how to smile! Would you look at that!

“Thank you. I’ll do my best, I mean it.” Yes, you do.

“Oh, no sarcasm this time? That’s a good start… progress, not perfection, right?” what’s with Jumin and his sudden change to a nice guy? “Okay, late introductions, I’m Jumin Han, the current bass player.” You knew it!

“You already know me, right?” Yes, Zen… we all do… “I’m Hyun, call me Zen, I play the electric guitar, but I can also sing. I hope I get to do all the duets I couldn’t do with you in the musical theater club.” Don’t blush! Don’t blush! Don’t blush! Shit, you’re blushing.

“Yoosung, keyboards.” It suits him… so that means he also plays piano? How cute… you woul like to watch him playing piano one day…

“Saeyoung, your DJ, costume designer, make-up artist, lighting guy and roadie at your service, my lady.” Wow, he surely does a lot! Wait… costume designer? Shit! Your mind doesn’t even want to go to the places where you could think what kind of outfit this guys is thinking for you… lord protect you.

“You’re pretty versatile, that’s cool.” But he’s nice, and he seemed uncomfortable about that alcoholism thing, enough fighting with these people… so you compliment him, giving your most genuine smile, and now he’s the one to blush... cute.

“Yes, the only thing he doesn’t do is actually play an instrument.” Oh, this voice… Saeran comes down the basement’s stairs. He decided to join you, after all. Was he waiting for a good cue to make an entrance? You giggle with this possibility.

“Well, you know what they say, bro, one brother has the musical talent, the other one has the looks, and the brains, and the mojo with the ladies.” Saeyoung grabs your hand and plants a kiss on it. Okay… you weren’t expecting that, that felt more like a Zen’s move.

Saeran scoffs. “Then you’re wasting your mojo, she’s not a lady.” He glares at you and grins. Jerk!

“And you probably don’t have the musical talent.” You answer. Yeah, remember that thing about stop fighting with these people? Forget it, this guy really gets to your nerves!

“Wanna bet? I’ll make you a fan for my drum solos before you even notice.” Okay, so he’s the drummer.

“I’ll be too busy in the spotlight, but it will be fun to watch you try.” He scoffs and grins, did you two just set a challenge?

“Ohohoho, so much tension!This is starting to feel like a real band! I can’t wait for our E! documentary.” You laugh at Saeyoung’s joke. It’s good that he’s trying to light the mood between his brother and you.

“Wait, what about you, Jaehee?” you remember her, she’s been so quiet…

“I… I don’t play anything. I’m the manager.” Oh… interesting, and kinda disappointing, you were rooting for her to be the drummer… she looks so cool and easy-going, so it made sense in your head. But the drummer is the little prick called Saeran… ugh. “So I hope I get to manage you in the best way possible, MC.”

“Thank you. I look forward for it too.” Again, you try to be genuine and not sarcastic, she doesn’t deserve it.

“So everybody is formally introduced. Can we please get out of the basement now?” Jaehee asks, and they all oblige. Forget Jumin, she’s the real leader, she probably didn’t realize that yet…

You get out of Yooung’s basement, he wanted you all to say for dinner, but everybody has to go. Well, you would really like to stay, the food smells good, what are you having for dinner? Maybe your father bought some takeout? Yes, probably… like he does on every Saturdays.

You’re saying goodbye to Yoosung and the twins (just to Saeyoung, you’re basically ignoring Saeran’s presence)

“Are you sure you don’t want us to walk you home?” Saeyoung asks.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“Okay, but text me when you get home, okay? It’s dangerous for a girl to be walking around by herself…” he sounds adorably serious.

“I’m sure a thug would be more in trouble if he met her on a dark alley.” Saeran says, without looking at you.

“I see you’re still not getting laid, Saeran. I hope you find some comfort on a dark alley one day.”

No comeback? Okay. The twins aren’t really inspired today, apparently.

“Anyway. Bye guys!” you turn your back on them and start walking. You know this neighborhood, your uncle’s girlfriend lives a few streets near. You can take a bus in the end of the street, or maybe you can just walk. It’s a peaceful neighborhood.

That’s what you were thinking before this guy in a motorcycle made a u turn and stopped in front of you. You couldn’t see his face, but you knew he was looking at you… SHIT!

Think, can you run? Can you scream for help? Where is your phone? Maybe you can discreetly dial the police number? They wouldn’t get here in time… screaming seems stupid, so… run?

You back away, run! Why aren’t you running, stupid? Is this what being paralyzed in fear looks like? Shit! Your legs feel weak…

“Hop on. We’re going for a ride!” that’s what he probably says as his voice is muffled due to the helmet, also, it sounds creepy enough to his image right now.

“I- I have pepper spray!” Here… somewhere… ugh! You hate to admit your father was right about letting the pepper spray accessible at any situation.

“Pepper spray? Oh, wait… MC, don’t…”

“How do you know my name?” a stalker? How did you even get one?

“MC! It’s me!” he takes his helmet off. Oh… it’s just Zen. And he looks… pretty sexy. Hold on! Weren’t you shitting yourself in fear a minute ago?

“Shit, Zen! You scared the shit out of me!” Stop saying shit!

“Sorry, MC. I didn’t mean to. Come on… I’ll give you a ride to your house.”

“Do you know where I live?” okay, so maybe you do have a stalker.

“Uhm… no? I was hoping you would tell me?” Of course, stupid! Now he thinks you’re a paranoid little crazyhead.

“I… do you have a license?”

“You don’t have to be scared, I’ll go slow if you want to.” He didn’t answer the question… but hey, you got lucky once, will you really risk yourself walking alone again?

“Fine.” You go to him, and he hands you a pink helmet. You’re definitely not the first girl taking a ride, huh? “But you don’t really need to be slow, I… I’m not scared.”

He smiles widely. “I was hoping you would say that.”

Again, this was not what you expected for your Saturday afternoon, it ended up a little better than you could ever imagine.

← Chapter One | Chapter Three →

#mystic messenger fics #mystic messenger au #mystic messenger #mystic messenger zen #hyun ryu #yoosung kim #jaehee kang #jumin han #saeyoung choi #saeran choi #high school au

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autodidact-adventures · 7 years

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Viking Language (Part 5): The Vikings

The Vikings travelled in all directions from their homelands in Scandinavia. Some sailed to distant Arctic regions, to hunt walrus ivory, skin and furs. Some sailed west across the North Atlantic Ocean, looking for lands to settle as farmers & fishermen.

They discovered the Faroe Islands (north of Britain), Iceland and Greenland, and settled them. Around 1000, they tried to settle Vínland (North America) under Leif Eiriksson. But they were unsuccessful (partially because of battles with the native peoples), and returned to Greenland after 3yrs.

The Vikings raided & conquered large areas of the British Isles, in particular the Danelaw (England) and parts of Ireland. In 839, they established Dublin.

They sacked Lisbon, Sevilla and Cadeiz in the Emirate of Cordoba (Spain), in 844. But they were defeated, and 400 were executed. Also in this year, they attacked North Africa.

The Vikings also attacked the Frankish Empire (in Western Europe). They attacked Bordeaux & Toulouse in 840; and attacked Paris (first of two times) in 845. In 860, they sacked Nimes and Arles.

Frankish Empire (814).

In 859-60, they raided in the Mediterranean.

Eastwards, the Vikings sailed across the Baltic Sea, and rowed down the rivers of Russia. In the mid-800's, they seized the settlement of Kiev, which was a tributary of the Khazars, and it became the capital of the Kievan Rus' (the first East Slavic state). Prior to this, Novgorod had been the capital (until 882).

Some travelled down the Volga River as far as the Caliphate of Baghdad, thus opening up a trade route between Northern Europe and the Middle East.

Some sailed south across the Black Sea to Constantinople (Istanbul), the capital of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire. And from there, they journeyed throughout the Near East & Mediterranean, as merchants, raiders, and bodyguards to the Greek emperors.

One of the most detailed contemporary accounts of the Vikings was written by Ibn Fadlan, an Arab diplomat & traveller. He encountered the Rus traders in the 922, while he was in Russia on a diplomatic mission to the Turkic-speaking Bulgars & Khazars. At this time, the Rus merchants & warriors had been in contact with the Arab world for over a century.

The Bulgars were horsemen, living in northern Russia, on the upper Volga River. Because their territory included the junction of the Volga and Kama Rivers, they could control the Volga trade routes in the north.

South of the Bulgars were the Khazars. Their territory stretched across the steppes, between Kiev and the Ural Mountains. They adopted Judaism as their religion, and they controlled the trade routes on the lower Volga River, and the north Caspian Sea.

The Rus travelled up and down the Volga River, between the Baltic region and the Middle East. They traded slaves, furs, weapons, glass beads and silver.

At the Bulgars' winter encampment, Ibn Fadlan encountered a party of Rus, who arrived by ship and set up their own encampment.

Ibn Fadlan described an exchange (via interpreter) between him and the Rus, who told him that the Arabs were fools for putting “the men you love most” into the ground for burial, where they would be eaten by worms and insects, instead of burning them in the fire, so they could enter Paradise at once.

The Rus used Arabic dirhams (silver coins) in their trade (much Arabic silver flowed to the Baltic region). Hoards of dirhams struck in the Caliphate's mints have been found by archaologists throughout the Baltic, especially on the island of Gotland. Some of these hordes weigh up to 80kg, proving that trade along the Volga was very prosperous.

The Vikings loved ornamented beads, and this was also noted by Ibn Fadlan. They were valuable trade goods, and men & women wore them. Four glass beads were found in Iceland's Mosfell Valley, buried as a set, in a pit inside the Hrísbrú longhouse.

These kind of beads were called eye beads, and they originated in Central Asia, on the Caspian Sea's east shore. Each bead has clear glass rods in the centre, with coloured circular surroundings. This makes it look rather like a bloodshot eye.

The Mosfell beads.

Ibn Fadlan was very much in awe of the Rus' physique, claiming he had “never seen bodies more perfect than theirs. They were like palm trees. They are fair and ruddy.”

The Vikings wore a garment that covered only one side of their body, leaving the other hand free. They each wore and axe, sword and knife, and “is never parted from any of the arms we have mentioned.” The swords were broad-bladed and “grooved like the Frankish ones.” Every man was tattooed from his neck to his toes in dark green.

The women wore a circular brooch on their breast. The material depended on their husband's social position (iron, silver, copper or gold). The brooch had a knife, which was also attached to their breast.

They wore torques around their neck, made of gold and silver. When a man had accumulated 10,000 dirhams, then he had a torque made for his wife; and for every 10,000 dirhams after that, another one.

Ibn Fadlan said that “the most desirable ornaments they have are green ceramic beads they keep in their boats.” The Rus would pay a lot of money for them – one dirham for one bead. They threaded them into necklaces for their wives.

He did not think much of the Vikings' hygiene. They didn't clean themselves after urinating, defecating, sexual intercourse, or meals. He said, “They are like wandering asses.”

Each morning, they all washed their faces and heads in a very gross manner. A young serving-girl brought breakfast and a large basin of water, which she gave to her master. He would wash his face and hands in it; and then wash & untangle his hair with a comb. Then he'd blow his nose and spit, and do “every filthy thing imaginable in the water.” Which would be fine, but the serving-girl then took the same basin to the next man, who did the same thing to it, etc.!

When the Vikings arrived on land, they anchored their boat on the Itil (a great river), and built large wooden houses on its banks. 10-20 people would live in each house. Each man had a platform to sit on.

They had “beautiful slave girls, for sale to the merchants” with them, and each of the men would rape his slave while the others looked on. Sometimes many men would be doing this at once, “in full view of one another. If a merchant enters at this moment to buy a young slave girl from one of the men and finds him having sex with her, the man does not get up off her until he has satisfied himself.”

The Rus offered gifts to their gods for good trading. Each man would take bread, meat, onions and nabidh (a drink made from raisins/grapes/dates), and walk until he came to a wooden post stuck in the ground, with a man's face on it. Surrounding the post were little figures, and behind them were long wooden stakes driven into the ground.

The man prostrated himself before the idol and spoke to it, telling it that he had come from a far country, and had [x] number/amount/s of various trade goods. Then he said, “I have brought you this gift,” and put the food & drink in front of idol, asking it to do him the favour of sending him a merchant who had a lot of money, and would buy everything that he [the Rus] wanted without arguing over the price. Then he left.

If he had difficulty with trading, and his stay became drawn-out, then he would return again, and perhaps a third time. If he couldn't get what he wanted, then he brought a small present for each of the small idols and asked them to intercede, saying, “These are the wives of our Lord and his daughters and sons.” He made requests to each small idol individually, prostrating himself like he did to the big one.

If the sale went well, then he said, “My Lord has satisfied my needs and it is fitting that I should reward him for it.” He slaughtered some sheep or cows, distributing part of the meat of gifts. He took the rest of the meat to the idols and set it before them. Then, he hung the sheep/cow heads on the wooden stakes (behind the small idols). The meat & heads would be eaten in the night by dogs, and the man would say that his Lord was pleased with him, and had eaten the offering.

If any of the Rus got sick, the others pitched a tent for him far-off from where they were. They left him some bread & water, but didn't go near him or speak to him, especially if he was poor or a slave. If he got better, then he came back to them; if he died, they burned him. But if he was a slave & died, then they left him where he was, for dogs & birds to eat.

A thief or brigand was hanged from a tree with “a stout rope”. He was left there until he died of exposure.

Most of the Norse didn't go on journeys to raid or trade, instead staying home & farming. During the Viking Age, the climate in Northern Europe & the North Atlantic was a few degrees warmer than the average over the past 1000yrs, and the population in Scandinavia grew.

The amount of agricultural land increased. For this, they cleared woodlands, drained wetlands, and expanded the use of highland pastures. The number of farms, communal settlements, and cemeteries increased throughout the Viking Age.

Around 1100 AD, the Vikings mostly stopped raiding European countries. By now, Scandinavian societies were more complex, both economically & socially. Warfare had changed in many ways from being a local affair, to a state-level affair. The older regional chieftancies had evolved into national kingdoms.

By the 1100's, Scandinavia had been divided into Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Sweden was further from Western Europe than the other two, so they were the last to become Christians.

The end of the Viking Age didn't change the lives of ordinary people much. Most continued their traditional farm life, and continued speaking their variants of Old Norse.

#book: viking language i #history #military history #vikings #russia #kievan rus'#caliphate of baghdad #bulgars #khazars #leif eiriksson #ibn fadlan #rape tw

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southernreflections · 7 years

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How to turn a bad roommate situation into a positive

My story begins with a best friend connection made in my freshman year of college (3 years ago). I was moving into an on campus apartment housing unit and didn't know anyone I was destined to room with. When I walked in, I was greeted by two seniors, both of them very friendly, but clearly picked me out to be a freshmen. The third roommate I met in the middle of moving all my luggage and boxes into my room. She was very nice and was also a "first-timer" like me. I was excited to not be the only one that didn't know anything about the college life. From then on, we talked, hung out a lot, cooked together, watched a lot of movies, and grew closer than I ever thought was possible. This all being said, I had one of the best years of my life my freshman year of college. I didn't only meet who I thought was my best friend, but I also joined Greek life, passed all my classes with A's and B's, and grew on my own through the hardest break up I believe I'll ever face in my life. My first semester of my sophomore year went pretty great as well. I decided to move from the on campus apartment to my sorority's new house, which was also on campus. This was where I expanded my friend group and started to learn who I was and mature more rapidly through activities, meetings, late night ice cream runs, and all nighters before tests. Don't act like you've never done it! But back to the main message, my bestie, from freshman year, and I still hung out and had our normal sleep overs where we watched a Harry Potter movie or anything we could find in Netflix almost every night. While we still had a strong friendship that semester, she had a girl from her orientation move into the apartment we had lived in the year before. She was also a very nice girl and we got along almost as well as my bestie and I did. At the end of the semester I decided to drop out of Greek life due to realizing I wasn't the type to be "srat". Along with dropping out of the group that helped me through heart break and helped me by being my support group, they also taught me that no one can truly be who they say they are., but no one is perfect. These women that had my back so many times through my college career also dropped me like a sack of potatoes except for two girls. They were always there for me along with my bestie. We all were very honest with each other and they included me as much as they could and healed my again broken heart. Also, I was stuck living in the sorority house since it was on campus housing and I had already paid for the school year in whole. The second semester of my sophomore year wasn't as "easy" and fun as the previous year and a half. The girl living with my best friend ended up hanging out with her more, resulting in pushing me farther away from our friendship we had created. Half way through the semester, we all agreed that we might would like to live off campus together in an apartment. We all started apartment searching and touring together ending with decided on an apartment right off of campus and fitting inside all of our budgets. After signing our leases, we started sharing our opinions on what was expected when we finally move in that summer. Having the straight forward personality that I acquire, I informed everyone that I would not be mothered by someone that was my age group. I had already lived on my own for two years and was mature enough to take care of my own. Let's just say that my bestie's new friend didn't like this very much and ended up making things more complicated than they needed to be, leading to a lengthened argument that ended in me not giving in and standing my ground as I have done for many years before. The bickering finally came to an end and everyone was forgiven, but nothing was forgotten. Now, my best friend since freshman year, her friend from orientation, one of my sorority sisters, and I are all half way through our junior year and have been living together since the summer. Before we finished our sophomore year, we all agreed on getting a puppy. I saved up money and ended up adopting my gorgeous yet very rambunctious puppy, Gracie. We were all in the same mind to make sure I trained her over the summer to be potty trained, taught to sit, lay down, shake, high five, etc., and be kennel trained. This all went as planned and she has grown so much over this past semester. At this moment, like said before, we all live together, with my puppy, and most things have gone well, but now that I've caught you all up, I'll get to the problems that have made me see the positives in bad roommates. The thing is, I've realized, no one trains their puppy the exact same way as anyone else and there really in no rule of "the right way", other than no one should treat their puppy cruelly or abuse them. With this being said, people, especially roommates, will always judge your ways no matter the circumstances. I learned the hard way by being "attacked" but my "bestie" and her friend (who also lives with us) about my dog being in her kennel "all day long with no food or water". 0. None of our class schedules match. So, they assumed I didn't come home between my classes in the afternoon to feed, play with, and take Gracie out. 0. They both complained to each other and neither of them ever came to me with any complaints till the "attack". They also complained to their parents and both mothers stated the option of calling animal control. When told this in the "attack" I did not shutter or become afraid at all due to the fact my dog is perfectly health, happy, and loved. I told them both to call animal control if needed, but neither did so. 0. I ended the argument with them by telling them "even though I had told them several times before to not worry about letting her out or buying anything (food, toys, medication, etc.), if they were so upset about her "being left in the kennel for up to 8 hours" then they could let her out to roam around while they were home when I couldn't be." This, in full, was the first argument of this past semester. The next argument consisted of several long, drawn out text messages sent to me by my "bestie's" and my "friend", whom lives with us, stating that I was a simple minded individual, bashed my relationship with my boyfriend of a year, and included a lot of things said in confidence to my "bestie" and not to be told to anyone else. After the altercation had ended, I asked my best friend to meet to talk to me about how things had gone so south. We met and I ended up forgiving her for sharing my personal information with our friend, but, wait, it gets better. After forgiving and having a promise from her to not share my words with our roommate anymore, I got home 30-45 mins after her and received an apology text from the roommate who had sent me the disrespectful messages the next morning. The message was sincere And straight forward, but, again, included personal information that was said the night before in confidence to my "bestie". I tried texting out group message that had all the roomies in it. I asked for everyone to meet up so we could talk this all out, but no one showed up the night we had all agreed to have our meeting. This led to my growth of being the bigger person and going to the sources. I started but going to the roomie who had sent the insulting texts in the beginning. We talked for hours about how we both felt and I forgave her, but also implied that none of this would ever be forgotten. Along with this, I shared my opinion that our "bestie" was most likely the source of our problem. Before I left for winter break, I made it clear that I did not want to stay in this lease if I could find a way out and I guaranteed that I would be out when my year lease finally ended. When one of our roomies kept texting the group message asking who would be resigning their lease, I never replied. This was to hint at the previous statement I had told them twice before going home for break. Not knowing who the "bestie" in this is, doesn't help you to know how she is usually. Hint: she usually is very understanding and compassionate. In the past week, I have been looking for a friend or good match to take over my lease before the spring semester starts on Tuesday. I posted on my school's Facebook page to see if anyone would be interested in subleasing, but also knew it was too close to school starting back to think someone would be looking for a place to live. So, I posted it on a whim. After 4 hours of the post being stranded in the middle of everyone else's questions and offers of other subleasing, I received a text from the "bestie" containing a screenshot of the post I had gotten no likes, comments, or messages on and a message cursing me, calling me immature and calling me immature for not telling them I was looking for a new place to live and a person to take over my lease. I replied, and was very mature about it, explaining what was going on and how I had already ran it by all of the girls in the apartment and that she seemed to be the only one that didn't catch the memo. She continued to belittle me and I proceeded to call the other roomie, who had talked everything out with me earlier in the semester, asking if she had anything to do with the messages I had just received. She admitted that they had talked, but she had only suggested asking me what was going on or what this meant. Needless to say, that isn't what happened and after I let her read the messages sent to me, she was shocked as much as I was. Through all the conflict I've dealt with, especially this semester, I am proud to say that I know I have maintained a mature and positive attitude through it all. I have possibly found a girl to sublease me and have found a new apartment to move into. Finally, the roomie and I are fine and still don't understand why the messages I received from the "bestie" were so hurtful and disrespectful, but I will not worry myself into a depression. My other roomie (sorority sister) was not very involved in all the conflict I went through. She and I are also still close. The message I want to pass onto anyone who reads this is: I have had enough hurt in the past and have realized that I do not have to keep everyone around me happy. I will, from now on, make myself happy and keep myself happy before worrying about making others happy. No matter how many things seem to go wrong, always stay positive and never give up. Signing off, AK😉

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gracelovely · 6 years

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Runaway

Thump, thump, thump.

My feet pound on the pavement as I run.

The sack's straps are thin. They dig into my shoulders, and the sack rams my back over and over keeping time with my feet. The sun is starting to rise.

I've been out of the house for about two hours now. I left through the window, and have been running on the bike trail behind my house ever since. I chose to go to the right this time. There are more trees, so its easier to hide.

It's another hour at least before I see anyone else on the trail. I've switched to walking at this point. I wish I could have gone farther, but I'm short and chubby as it is. The first person I see is a man with a dog. He looks at me curiously, but doesn't say anything.

A few minutes later, I see a young lady. She stops me and asks

"What's a girl like you doing out here, all alone?"

"Just going to a picknic!" I reply brightly with the cutest smile I can muster. I thought it was a clever lie, considering she was eyeing the sack of food on my back. I really only had some soda, strawberries, chips, marshmellows, and peanut butter, but I figured she'd buy it. Still, I quicken my pace until she is no longer in sight.

When I come to the first bridge, I realize how little I've actually gone. The bridge is only about 9 miles from my house. Oh, well. I carefully crawl beneath it to eat my breakfast.

I sit on the cement ledge under a big metal beam. I figure this way, no one from above can see me. I look down at all the traffic below me. I think most kids are scared of this stuff, but I like heights.

I pop open the container of strawberries. I think I should eat these up first, since they go bad. I was going to pack some muffins, but the last muffins Stepdad Cris made had so much cinnimon and salt it made my big sister gag. He made them like that on purpose, so he could catch her stealing food during the night. I didn't think these muffins were bad, but I didn't want to take my chances.

I only finished half the strawberries, but the sun was up now. They probably knew I was gone now. I had to get moving. Why did the sun have to rise so fast?

I got out from under the bridge and crawled back up in the dirt slowly, to make sure no one saw me. Then I got up and started walking.

I was only halfway across the bridge when I stopped. There was a car parked in a clearing, just past the curve in the trail. The car looked like mom and Cris's. I looked around and saw Cris, hiding behind a tree, just past the bridge. He was on his phone, so he hadn't seen me. Yet.

I crawled back under the bridge as quickly and quietly as I could and looked around. There was a ditch that went the same way as the trail. I could walk in it until I was far enough away to get back on the trail, but to get to the ditch I had to go down a really steep hill. I quietly crawled over to the hill and laid on my belly. I went down, little by little, finding places for my feet and hands, almost like reverse rock climbing. Eventually I got to the bottom, but my belly was red and scratched. It hurt.

I found my way into the ditch and started walking. Cris wouldn't catch me the same way again. After a while, I went back up the hill to the trail. The hill was smaller and less steep this time, so I got to walk.

When I got to the top, I saw a little path that went off the trail. I knew that path. It went to a park I used to go to a lot with my two older brothers. Since I couldn't go back the way I came from, and the other way led back home, I decided to go to the park.

I sat on the swings for a while. It was a Sunday, so there were other people there, but no one questioned me. After all, kids walk themselves to the park all the time. I decided it was a good time to finish up the strawberries and have a can of soda.

I threw away all my trash in the garbage. I also went behind a bush, took off my pull-up, and threw that away too. It was embarrassing being 7 and a half, and still wearing pulI-ups. I didn't really need it, but mom and Cris made me wear one at night because if I leave my room to go to the bathroom at night, the alarm goes off on the bedroom door, and that wakes up my little sister, which isn't good.

After I throw my stuff away, I realize that mom and Cris know I like this park. They might come looking for me here. I had to leave. I started walking.

I didn't really know where I was going. I just kept walking down blocks, turning when I felt like it. I found a little tunnel under the road that I ate dinner it. I just had chips and soda. But then I had to go to the bathroom. I found a Wenedy's and use their bathroom quickly, then started looking for a place to sleep.

I found a nice white house a few blocks down. In the backyard, there was a big porch, with a gate around the bottom so you couldn't see under. Perfect.

I had to squeeze in, and I couldn't stand up underneath it, so I just sat for a while. Then I laid down, and went to sleep.

***

When I woke up the next morning, the sun was already out. I heard the garage door closing. That must have been what woke me up. I watched through the fence as the lady in the car pulled away. When she was out of sight, I scrambled out from under the porch with my sack and checked the door. It was unlocked.

I went inside carefully and closed the door. It opened into the living room. I hid behind the couch for a little bit, making sure the house was really empty. It was. I quickly used their bathroom and then went to the kitchen. I didn't want to eat all my food if I didn't have to. They had poptarts in their house. And granola bars. I grabbed some of those and put them in my bag. Then I drank some milk from the fridge. I didn't dirty any cups. Before I left, I took the bag of cookie cearel from the cupboard, but I left the box behind.

I closed the door behind me and locked it. I didn't want the lady who lived here to know I had gotten in. I started walking around some more.

After a few hours of just walking around, I sat next to a fence to eat my lunch. I had just begun to open my sack when a big dog started barking at me! I screamed and jumped away from the fence.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" A young girl called from inside the backyard with the big dog. "He's really very nice and- Oh, hi." She stopped when she really looked at me. "Are you lost?" She asked.

"No, no." I replyed unconvincingly. The big dog had freaked me out, and I couldn't think of a clever lie this time.

"Do you want me to call you're parents?" She asked sweetly. I wanted to say no, but my mouth was all dried up, and I couldn't find my words. Instead, I just turned and ran. Fast. She called after me, but I didn't listen.

I kept running until I came upon a park. I didn't recognise this park. I sat on the bench and caught my breath. I stuck my sack in the shade under the bench, so the sodas wouldn't get hot. I few people were wispering and looking at me, but I didn't care much about what they thought. I stayed there for a while, and everything was fine. I ate a lot of my food in the hours I spent there. It was almost dark when I saw the police car pull up.

When the police got out of the car, I knew they had to be there for me. I ran under the slide and his behind the wall you were supposed to play tic-tac-toe on, but I guess they saw me. There were two policemen, and they went on different sides of me. I was trapped. Finally, one called out to me.

"Hey, Grace, is that you? Come on out here sweetie, we're here to help you."

I didn't believe him. They were here to take me back home. When he tried to grab me, I kicked and punched him, but the other one grabbed my arms. They both tried to calm me down, but I wouldn't listen. It wasn't until I was shut in the back of the police car that I stopped fighting. I wanted to eat something quickly before I was back, but I had left my bag at the park. And we were almost home.

Mom was waiting on the front steps when we got there.

•••••••••••••

*This story is a true memory of one of my run away experiences as a child. My name was changed because I don't like to give my real name in posts, but every other detail was true. I tried to narrate my thoughts as accurately as I remembered them.*

0 notes

sleepymarmot · 7 years

Text

Skyrim liveblog: more Dawnguard rage and even more mods

Oh great. I installed a mod that makes quivers compatible with backpacks, decided that the several day long modding session should be over and I can go back to playing... And then I noticed that Serana's stupid Elder Scroll is considered a quiver and now is attached to her butt too. Cue an hour in Creation Kit trying to make her a bow with an ES model to wear. She fucking wears that butt scroll even if I delete it from her inventory, and refuses to wear anything else, even when I add it to her fucking outfit. Why does that quiver mod affect her but mine doesn't?! Ugh. It's as if this character is in the game specifically to spite me. Fuck off.

Well, at least I looted some stuff! Finally found the fort with the Bound Bow spell tome. It's completely against the idea of the character, and it's not as strong as my normal bows, but fast and fun. Dwarven condenser (steam staff) still haven't tried.

"I've seen that dragon before" and by that I mean "I have subtitles on and know that name from the internet"

Hell yeah, I can wait before the next part! Aka give Serana a ride home.

Solitude

After 138 hours of playing, earning 100000 gold, and becoming a Thane in three holds, I finally reach the capital! Exciting!

Wow, imperials really like beheadings, don't they.

Whoa, what a fancy tavern!

I love how distinct the interior style is.

A dude walked up to me and started to talk about his "master" and madness. Sigh. It's going to be Sheogorath, isn't it?

"Blessings of the Eight Divines" oh i see...

"We appreciate worship in all its forms" ha

And the temple is unlike anything I've seen before in the game, like the city in general.

---

Just as I was glad to see the final battle of a dungeon end, my stupid followers decided to attack each other and Serana fucking murdered Uthgerd. Fuck! You!!!

Can't find anything to activate a bridge, think that maybe this dungeon doesn't have a shortcut, use Clairvoyance and it leads me back the way I came, I can't proceed, google and turns out there is a lever I missed. What is even the point of this spell?!

Dawnguard

Finally I have reached the place of your imprisonment, poor Thorald! But first I must get rid of Serana.

Haha, she thanks you for leading her all this way here and apologizes that she'll have to go her own way after. Fine by me!

Btw, in hindsight it wasn't the best strategic decision to show an ancient and respected vampire the location of the secret vampire hunter fort... Whoops.

Harkon *turns into a gargoyle*: Don't you wanna be pretty like me??

---

Guess who showed no finesse whatsoever in this rescue operation and just slaughtered every Thalmor on her way?

I broke like a hundred lockpicks off these master locks, and the prisoners don't show any gratitude or even try to escape...

---

With a good stock of certain mushrooms and a set of 26% fortify alchemy armor, it took me ten minutes to grind from legendary 15 back to 80 points.

Whiterun

I have figured out the problem with my Lakeview interior: it's not Whiterun-ish enough. Not enough yellow and blue, too much red and dark brown. Now that I've been to Solitude, I see its influences on the Breezehome mod I'm using and it's starting to bother me, too. Where are my blue-yellow walls? The ivy is pretty but it's Solitude's style, not Whiterun's. Btw I miss the simple vanilla Whiterun rug design...

"Not here, I told you to meet me in Riverwood" What the fuck? I didn't even expect to see her here! I live here, you know! I'm a thane here, actually!

Hmm, I tried to replace one of the rugs in Lakeview with a Whiterun rug but it just doesn't fit in... I didn't even notice that I build a red-green-brown color scheme there!

Dawnguard

Aaaand the vampires found us. Which is clearly a part of the main plot and happens whether I took Serana here or not.

"The woman was a vampire" Wait, is that supposed to be news?! How???

"I should have kept her here until we were certain" Yes we should have!!

"They also have an Elder Scroll" That's also not new! Literally the first thing you can ask her is "Is that an Elder Scroll?" Who wrote this???

"And you didn't stop them?" I LITERALLY BROUGHT HER HERE. SHE STOOD RIGHT NEAR THE CASTLE. WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE THE ORDERS THEN???

I'm going to cry... Out of everything I've encountered in the game, this is the stupidest.

Innocence Lost

The entire internet says you don't get bounty for killing Grelod. I sneak in during the night, stealth kill her -- bounty 1000, a guard immediately attacks me outside.

Oh right. It was Constance. But Grelod was in this room during the day, and someone among the kids shouted "kill her"...

Okay, now it went well.

"When I grow up, I'm going to be an assassin. That way I'm going to help lots of children, just like you" Aw...

An unusual gem is marked "take", I take it -- it's interpreted as stealing. Good thing I saved 10 seconds ago...

A fine hour as a honest student of magic -- training with everyone, getting my money back by trading, making more enchanted shit, grinding my brains out... My enchantment is at 95 now: almost there! Didn't even touch the storyline.

Dark Brotherhood

Wow, Astrid dragged me from Winterhold all the way to Solitude!She's the leader? They don't have anyone better? Really?Wait, the DB sanctuary is so close to my home? Unacceptable!!The DB sanctuary is bugged. Not only the inhabitants can't move, which isn't a bad thing, but the word wall doesn't work. And its word is in the only shout I regularly use..

Dawnguard

"You wouldn't happen to have a dwarven gyro, would you?" I'm wearing dwarven armor, boots, gauntlest, and two modded dwarven items. Yeah, I think I can find a gyro too...

I thought she would send me on a quest to explore a nearby ruin before agreeing...

Finally, I can interact with the master archery trainer and fellow engineer!

Aaand she sends me to freaking Solsteim. I had to google that because it doesn't show up on the map. Apparently it's a radiant location...

Isran refused to talk to me, only after I saw Serana he told me to talk to her, then after I turned my head from her back to him he asked me to tell me what she said, as if we weren't all standing in a corner almost on top of one another.

No, Serana, I don't want you to come along, especially if it's "just me and you".

Vaermina

Smart Looter broke the Vaermina quest, looting the soul gem that I was supposed to take, so I got stuck.

LMAO Vaermina your bluff could have been more convincing if you didn't add "Vaermina commands you" at the end

Proudspire Manor

Okay, I bought Proudspire and I have a lot of questions.

Is the children's room really next to the entrance on the first floor? Not on the third floor near the master bedroom, not even the second?

Where is the housecarl's room?

Where is the kitchen? You know, the cooking pot where I can make stuff?

Aaaalright, so the kids' room does appear on the third floor. So what is the empty room with a bed roll, then?

And the cooking pot is apparently supposed to be on the second floor, and is missing due to a Hearthfire bug.

"The housecarl's room in the basement contains an unowned bed roll, two food barrels, three food sacks and many crates, rugs and unused pieces of furniture. This doesn't get upgraded like normal when you become thane and the housecarl moves into the manor, unlike with other houses." Okay. Why the hell is this called basement when it's on the ground level and leads to the main entrance?

I finally decided to do something with my hoarding problem, selling old weak potions and trying to sort the rest.

Unique weapons -- weapon rack in my house

Upgrade everything I have to Legendary, then either sell or:

Pouch 1 -- clothes I might want to wear

Pouch 2 -- enchanted weapons I don't use (too weak or not my type) but don't want to sell

Pouch 2 -- one or two copies of every weapon I have.

Dawnguard

Wow, I fast travelled right to the entrance to the fort this time! Improvement!

Yes, Serana, I think it is my place to judge you! When your family's problems are that you feed on other people, they become other people's business!

"I'll buy whatever you're looking to get rid of" Sorine truly understands me...

Wow, Dawnguard has a special, second in Skyrim breed of dog that actually looks cute, not creepy! I actually want one, but only if they're invincible.

They're protected, not essential :( Maybe I'd take one but use console. Like I did on Uthgerd earlier today. It's impossible to play a destruction mage with a follower otherwise.

---

Came to Winterhold to ask about the scrolls and train with Faralda, and she attacks me :( It's another bug apparently.

Okay, thanks internet, waiting for 10 days fixed it.

Dawnguard

"He might know where I can find an Elder Scroll for Paarthurnax" Uh? Are we mixing up quests here? I haven't even met Paarthurnax...

Screw you, Serana! Is it not enough to just tell my follower to stay here? Do I have dismiss her entirely? Normal quest givers just leave the follower behind automatically!

I dunno, Serana, I think this courtyard looks pretty nice...

Free the horse's soul and then bind it to yourself! What's the logic? Nice horse though.

Does "Tyranny of the Sun" means "The sun harms vampires" or "Vampires destroy the sun"? I think they've used this phrase in both ways...

I'm not sure how the Soul Cairn works. Are the souls trapped here only by the special means gained from the Ideal Masters? I thought at first that they're just victims of the black soul gems, but doesn't seem so.

Wait, so if the prophecy asks for a "daughter of Cold-whatever", then any female vampire who had gone throgh that ritual would do, right? Not only Serana and her mom.

I'm not sure summoning a dragon to Tamriel is a good idea... Aren't we killing them on sight, not the other way around?

Winterhold

I just realized that I haven't used Illusion at all, but it would be very handy for roleplaying a nice character! So, another level-up session. I planned to leave legendary-ing alchemy for Solsteim, but what the hell! Got destruction and illusion to 90.

Damn, I forgot about Paralysis! And alteration altogether, it's at 38! That's because Tolfdir is in a different hall, haha.

The Black Star

Well, now I don't know what to do. When I read about the quest, I decided that I'll give the Star to the priestess -- I'm not evil and I don't need a black soul gem. But rp-wise... That mage is right. Why should I help daedra?

Wiki: "If you reveal yourself as an agent of Azura, you will have to pass an easy-level Speech check or he will dismiss you outright" Easy-level! Ha! I have 100+ Speech and I failed the persuasion and had to bribe him!

Uh, why is the owner of this mill a vampire? Is that normal?

Heljarchen Farm

Damn, the Heljarchen farm is so well decorated! The shrine decorations just floored me. I've never seen that kind of thing before!

It's a shame that as soon as I arrived to claim the property, I encountered a bandit stuck in place -- navmesh conflict? Also the light is flickering weirdly in the cellar.

LMAO my own worker addresses me "What do you want, lizard?"

I could feel the framerate die after I planted all my stuff outside lol. I didn't even fill all the planters! I wanted more of them, but maybe it wouldn't be wise...

Filled the greenhouse with mushrooms. Sorry immersion! I need those!

Oh, so I CAN light the lanterns! The activator is not on the lantern itself but on the post. Weird, but okay. Would be nice if they auto-activated at night.

Is that the outdoor toilet? Why can't I enter?

I wish it had a proper forge, not just an anvil.

I wish I could pay workers daily.

Cabbage clips through the fertile soil. Yikes.

The Hideaway

Time to tend to my other modded house -- the Hideaway. It's kinda ridiculous to have them right next to each other, but I love both. It's so amazingly designed! I haven't even seen before most of the assets in it! What I don't like is that I can't display a shrine of Zenithar -- some garbage Daedra, sure, but not one of the Divines! It's not a huge issue obviously, I can use one in the farm or anywhere else, but it's slightly irritating. The kitchen and smithing areas are too dark, there's a visible texture clash outside (might be vanilla though), and it's weird to leave all this stuff protected only by a couple of wooden planks.

Dragons Keep

Dragons Keep is beautiful and very detailed. Yes, Skyrim looks like a country that prefers home education to boarding schools -- but I really want to get those poor orphans somewhere safe even though I don't have time for parenting! I'd like some lore basis for this luxury. Maybe it was personally supported by the High King, and now that he's dead, the Dragonborn can become a new patron and pay for upkeep, as well as entrance fees for any new student I invite. That would be a good money sink, and make the entire thing more plausible.

And I wish the children were more diverse instead of carbon copies of vanilla ones...

My build

I've taken the Necromage and Aspect of Terror perks, and I think my fire spells are now even stronger than archery against draugr! So I went through an entire dungeon with Incinerate in the right hand and swapping between Soul Trap and Incinerate in the left.

My progression is going as planned. After a lot of studies in the college, I became a skilled wizard who uses all schools of magic. When I get at least one other than enchanting to mastery, I'll proceed with the quest. I know how it ends, but not how long it is, so I'm leaving it entirely until I feel deserving of the title.

lmao bless stealth archery, I have completed the final room of the Potema catacombs in Solitude without even stepping into it, killing every draugr before it could spot me

Proudspire TNF

Finally got tired that there's not a single smelter in the capital of Skyrim and installed Proudspire TNF. Well, first of all, the interior is twice as big as the vanilla one. Which means it's finally fit for a thane (the vanilla house seemed not bigger than mine!) but breaks immersion severely. Both master and children's bedrooms have balconies in place of walls; and I thought the combined bedroom in Hearthfire was bad for privacy! The housecarl room is ugly like in vanilla. And there are leftover harvestables floating in the air, but the reset interior command got rid of that. As a smaller complaint, I don't like that it got rid of the snowberry vases and leather planters. And I need to throw out those trophy bases! Why the fuck would I need a monster corpse in my home?!!

But the crafting areas are pretty much perfectly designed! The achemy room has the full lab, which I prefer to the tabletop variant, uses the table shelf for ingredients in bowls and puts three wall shelves above it for the same; there's a wooden table connected to the lab, and the lectern is placed in the corner between the two workspaces. Ingredients have their own open shelf (I wonder if it respawns), the similar shelf with the potions is a container, and there's a potion display shelf; plus, several planters in the same room, and it's all next to the kitchen but is safely separate in its own room with a door. The enchanting station is combined with the armory, which is what I wanted to do myself, and there's even a set of weapon plaques hanging right above it, and it's all close to a library.

So I really don't know what to do. I guess I leave it for convenience's sake, though I saw a comment that uninstalling it may cause problems...

I finally bit the bullet and installed USLEEP/WAFR/CCF/CCOR. And because the latter instructed me to make a bashed patch, had to learn wtf is that. Please work...

Proudspire Manor

Magically, something fixed the housecarl room. Was it some bug fix? Or just because I left and reentered the house?

I'm trying to think of a way to make this floor plan a bit less insane... My ideas:

Revert the third floor's plan to vanilla

Create a cellar -- not a trapdoor, just another flight of stairs. Move the armory/enchanting, smithy, bath there.

First floor is now main entrance/lobby. Replace the door with the fancy model. Move the housecarl room back there: she's guarding the door. Move most of the bookshelves there from the third floor; couple of display cases/plaques/mannequins; some pretty plants.

What was the lobby on the second floor is now living room for the owners.

Alternatively, if the door cannot be replaced and all of this is impossible -- make the "real" entrances way more decorated and visible.

Lmao I accidentally selected & dropped the front-facing "backdoor" in positioner and now it's permanently open

King Olaf Festival

"When Vampires Attack" broke the burning festival -- nobody came, and the bard ran back into the building as soon as he lit the fire. Disabled the mod in the MCM, but there's no option to enable it again.

"Speech skill increases 15% faster" Ha! Should have done this quest sooner.

"I believe Sanguine will be pleased with this festival" Wait, did this dude just announce his daedra worship in the middle of a festival in a capital city?

Now what?! A guard walks up to me with "You there. What do you know about this?" There shouldn't be any dead bodies near here. Maybe dead vampires? I dunno. We repeated the same lines 3 times before he walked away.

190 hours into the game and 99 active mods later, I have finally downloaded LOOT! Well, the loading screens are just as long, and framerate even seems worse.

Arrive at Lakeview, start picking flowers from my garden, get attacked by Thalmor, vampires and wolves all at once. What the hell?!

Calcelmo wants me to bring him a dwarven metal ingot? All the way from Riverwood? Wut?

Now I thought something was wrong with Breezehome -- the cooking pot was off the center, and the housekeeping book was magic-themed for some reason. But from the screenshots on the mod page, seems like it's supposed to look like that? Okay.

Uh, why the hell did Clothing and Clutter Fixes change Farengar's clothes from normal blue robes + hood to some mismatched monstrosity?!

Installed HD maps, for some reason they have greenish tint.

Wow, something deleted the bugged old tree trunk of the Gildergreen! What was it, I wonder? USLEEP?

---

Okay, so. I suddenly decided it's time to make Speech legendary. I had the ideal conditions:

A stack of potions in my inventory

All three barter buffs

Thief Stone

Well Rested

Bard College bonus to speech increase

Treebalance mod ready to be installed

Now I have so many free perks! Since I don't need price reduction, Investor & Master Trader don't need to be reselected after legendary-ing, and Treebalance removes a fence perk from the merchant branch. Now I can finally buff my Illusion! And then I can start putting points into crafting again! Also ice spells for the fire dragons, alteration for defense, and armor for utility.

If only Treebalance didn't have the Allure perk... I should learn how to edit perk trees. Since I'll never dare to ask the modder to do that for me... The problem is, it's for some reason a branching point in the mod, so the entire tree would need to be reworked.

---

Last round I could create 36% Fortify Enchanting potions. Now it stops on 32% :( I don't understand why.

Hmm I wonder what I should bring to the Thalmor Embassy...

---

Dragonkiller Cart Reloaded & Gypsy Eyes Caravan

The setup process of Dragonkiller Cart is so difficult... But when I set it up, it immediately improved my immersion. Now I know where I'm carrying all this crap! And then I could park it and scout ahead with invisibility/muffle. Time to put on illusion on heavy armor/cloak to make a peaceful traveller's outfit. And try to assign a housecarl to sit on my cart and guard it at all times.

What isn't as immersive is the way it tumbles around after fast travel or at the slightest sign of trouble.

Okay, when I started falling off a cliff and fast-travelled back to the word wall, my horse appeared but the cart didnt. When I came back to it, the harness somehow wasn't in the inventory anymore.

I still have no idea when Jaxonz Smart Looter works on horseback and when doesn't. Not sure why I'm not using Convenient Horses's auto-loot... But I rebound the manual harvesting to M2 and my life instantly became easier.

The dragon on the peak above Morthal was once again missing textures, and now even didn't give me a soul.

And finally, I'm in Morthal! Now I can pick up my unused housecarl and assign him to guard the cart. Though considering the horrifying loops the cart did on the rocky road down the mountain, I'm a bit scared to put someone in it...

Okay, I assigned my follower a seat, but how do I get him in there?

What the fuck? Where did the harness go AGAIN? Are they consumed after a day of use or something?!

A youtube video explained the problem: the followers are invisible if assigned to seats 1-2. Also, they only get on the cart if you do, and get off with you. So much for guarding my stuff!

When I tried to use Gypsy Eyes Caravan, it freaked out and was glitching almost for a full minute.

Well, here I can do what I want: assign a follower to drive the cart permanently, and either follow me or stay back. Even though I prefer the simple design of Dragonkiller.

Just as I felt happy that everything was finally working, Valdimar disappeared. And in the morning, rose through the seat and was on it again. Wut?

Okay, I left both carts at the Markarth stables, both set to "follow". Went into Markarth, then fast-travelled from there. Only my horse appeared, neither of the carts.

I'm back to the stables. Dragonkiller informs me that it needs a horse harness, again; also it's nowhere to be seen, its map marker is still in Morthal. Gypsy eyes has its wheels flying around it wildly, and it's unable to follow me.

Dragonkiller wasn't even at its map marker in Morthal; I have no idea how those work. Had to re-summon it, and it hitched the horse without a problem -- so the harness wasn't missing again, after all?

Okay, so turns out GEC has a next beta version, and the notes basically confirmed my guess of what was going on: when I fast travel to a city, the caravan attempts to do so too, and crashes horribly. I expected that the mod would be smart enough to park the caravan at the stables which every city has next to the entrance -- you know, like your normal horse!

And my max Fortify Smithing potion is now 130% as opposed to 145% last time. Why? Was it a beneficial glitch?

I put on my fresh max Fortify Smithing armor, made a lot of max Fortify Smithing potions, and finally sat down and improved every single thing in my inventory to the limit. I can breathe easily now.

I just remembered about Angi's camp! Just in time -- my archery is at 92. Damn, the last task is difficult...

#skyrim #blah blah blah

0 notes

twisted-petal · 7 years

Text

To Those Who Thought I Died: I Did

This is going to be quite the lengthy one. I have no clue who is even on here, I have not checked, and I do not care; This is just going to be a massive vent post as I have no one to talk to, and the few who know half of this shit are either gone because of it, or I did not like their responses and I do not feel like dealing with more of it. Some of this will also be me trying to convince myself that I’m not as fucked up as I think I am, and that I truly did what I thought was best to avoid confrontation or whatever bullshit that happened.

“2016 was the worst year ever!!” Many people said this, and for me it’s still 2016. Too many thing have happened since the start of last year, up until now, that have completely shattered who I am was. All that work I put into finding myself, creating myself, and nearly coming to accept my existence. Here I am at ground level.

Most of this shit is my fault, and despite what some have told me, I believe I am to blame for every second of every incident - whether I understand it or not. I am supposed to take responsibility for my own problems as an adult, right?

At the start of last year I got incredibly sick from walking to and from work all winter. As much as I hate taking days off, I just could not function, and they barely had me working any days those three weeks, anyway. I took the bite out of my paycheck. Even though my savings from my previous job were meager, I knew I could take it fine enough (so long as there were no emergencies). This sicky tidbit comes into play later.

Around this time I was also (sort of) dating a co-worker - Corey… After spending more money than I am proud to admit to bake him cupcakes from scratch (I had no baking supplies, either) for Valentine’s Day, he tells me he spent the morning with an ex (who he caught getting plowed by her ex, in their home), and that he realized he still had feelings for her, so who would not come to see me. Gee. I wonder what happened. ¬__¬ Maybe it didn’t. Maybe it did. All I know is that I am too nice for my own good, and yes, he is going to be a major topic throughout this post; I accepted him back.

There was a side to him that truly glowed for me, a part of someone I adore, and a part that he (and many others) does not show anyone else. His passions, his past, his fears, and all sorts of dumb shit. Because of this, and the few times he would surprise me with thoughtful action, I endured far more than I should have. I will get into his sexual guilt, later. Maybe… Iunno, just done talking about him for now.

One of the nice things about him was that if I had a hard time walking home, all I needed to do was make him feel bad enough that I was hurting or that it was pouring rain and he would finally pick me up and take me home because he was worried. To avoid more about him…

Almost three years ago I injured myself at an old job and I was never able to the injury checked out or fixed. No Worker’s Comp as my store manager saw me as a liability since there were no cameras, and she believed I wasn’t following the rules; Ironically enough, this was the one day I was following the rules. Longer story short, as this is a post for 2016-present: I slipped on the stool I needed to reach the top of the trailer (solo truck unloader), twisting my ankle, banging my knee on a point of the metal accordion rollers on my way to the trailer floor, landing on the side of my foot, and twisting it a couple more times. I then continued unloading the truck, helped everyone get the U-Boats (weird carts) in their place, and finished my shift stocking what I was assigned. Then stocked my departments the next day. Aaaannnd just kept on working

At my last job, it was a three mile walk to and from, which I started in fall, along with moving in with a friend’s brother (more on that ordeal, later), and with my already bad knees hating the cold, I was now dealing with an ankle that absolutely despised the cold and gave me Hell. Walk to work, stand at the register, stock shelves, arrange inventory (Christmas trees, lights, various decor, plants, soil/mulch, cement bird baths/lawn statues, grills, mowers, lawn furniture/umbrellas, pots, etc.), run carry-outs/help load trucks and shit, cover other departments, push pallets, and other stuff I should have been doing on my ankle, then finally walk home to take care of my bunny boys, maybe eat some noodles while watching Game Grumps, then sleeeeeep.

It is not news to anyone that as known me for very long at all that I do not like to burden anyone; I do not like asking for/accepting help or complaining/making a fuss over things, nor do I like confrontation. I just deal with shit. I do as I’m told. I see to others’ comforts and needs before my own. I am too nice for my own good. Yet somehow, as I’m about to vent/rant/vrent (about), I got kicked out of where I was. I seriously have no clue why! He legit refused to explain. I asked. The entire time I was there he would not tell me a single fucking thing! Such as: late-night parties I would come home to at midnight, leaving town for 3-7 days where I just assumed the role of cat-sitter (nothing new there, and guess what, more on this in a bit), needing any help around the house or financially, letting me know he lost his job (saw unemployment letters while sorting the mail. I get it’s his business, but we live together and I’m there to help?), if I bothered him in any way, or, just… Anything.

Point being: I wouldn’t ask for a ride, and I would frequently turn offers down. When I had my early morning shifts my roommate offered me a couple rides since he was up early anyway, but after a ride or two I started to feel bad as he ended up needing to wake up earlier to take me. There were a few I accepted because they seemed too concerned to deny, and once or twice I called up my roommate due to some shady characters hanging around me after my shift (when I was scheduled late at night).

Honestly, I did what I could to just stay out of his hair… Cleaning the few dishes I used (generally ate noodle cups - more on this rant and more in a sec) immediately or the next day, didn’t mess with his stuff even though he gave me permission on most things, and avoided asking for assistance or favors or asked to borrow anything, and I tried offering things to help out like buying the washer and dryer I had living with an old boyfriend (so he didn’t have to drive to do his laundry and I didn’t have to walk as I felt bad for asking and he wasn’t offering - though a friend drove me to another town to use his…), and getting Food Stamps to help, as per his request.

Now… Originally I suggested we buy a cheap washer and dryer together, to which he would continuously ignore my messages until finally getting upset saying he didn’t want to, so I bought a set myself. I wasn’t about to haul a sack of laundry for a mile, use up a bunch of quarters, and hike it back every week or so, and I thought I was being helpful in offering to help pay, or even pay for it myself (which ended up happening) if he would just check them out with me. Apparently I did wrong? The only explaination I received was that he just didn’t want to, and that then he wouldn’t have an excuse to drive to his brother’s place to play games… Either way, I told him I was getting them and that he could use them if he wished.

As for the food… I kept him up-to-date on the status of my benefits (when I was getting them and how much), and told him if he wanted to get anything to let me know. Whether that be asking to pick things up from work or go on a shopping trip. The only thing that he ever said were complaints that he only ate ramen (which was far from the truth, and how he couldn’t afford food after I was lowering the amount he paid in rent by paying him is beyond me), but he would never ask, and I was tired of reminding him that I had my card and we could get food. … Correction: He asked me to buy supplies for him to make enchiladas for his fu-friend, but I didn’t get the message until my lunch break at 8pm, sooooo I was too late. My bad… Sorry? I would have… I told him I work ‘til midnight…

So for the most part I would eat cheap burgers at McDonald’s (woo! 10% discount! More than my own employers gave me…), ramen, noodle cups, and other microwave stuff here and there, and he seemed to make a lot of rice dishes so I hiked home with a 20# bag of rice and showed him where it was (he never used it). I was saving my benefits for when he finally took the initiative and offers to finally get food. Ended up getting my benefits cut because of this, which is the main reason I started eating more. Even though I felt horrible for eating at home because he never asked! He’s a big boy. I told him I had them and we could get food. I… Ugh! Repeat rant…

The cat… I miss him dearly… He just showed up one day. I exit my room one afternoon, housemate was gone, and there was a small, black kitten staring at me. He became my little buddy… Always greeting me when I got home and begging me to pick him up so he could rub his face on the bill of my hat efore clawing his way to sit on my shoulders. I played with him every day (freaken high energy thing!), and was training him to fetch and other small commands. I’m a dog person… ^^;

His owner neglected him… His (Ninja’s) bowl would be left empty all day… Brief explaination of the day-to-day: Housemate left for work about 4:30 am (I forget when he would get home, as I would usually be working, and he often wouldn’t get home until much later in the day), and I generally left work around 11am (whatever my shift, I was gone at least 12 hours from a full shift and walking). I checked his bowl every morning and night. Sometimes he would have a few bites left and sometimes it was empty. There were a few days where I was in a rush and didn’t have time to fill it. On these days where it was/near empty, I would get home and the bowl would be empty. He informed me early on that his plan was to keep it filled. I kept it filled.

Oh hey! Character limit! XD I’ve barely begun and only know to extend this by making multiple posts… Posting in reverse so hopefully it’s a more seamless read… If read.

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readbookywooks · 7 years

Text

Snow-White and Rose-Red

There was once a poor widow who lived in a lonely cottage. In front of the cottage was a garden wherein stood two rose-trees, one of which bore white and the other red roses. She had two children who were like the two rose-trees, and one was called Snow-white, and the other Rose- red. They were as good and happy, as busy and cheerful as ever two children in the world were, only Snow-white was more quiet and gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red liked better to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother, and helped her with her housework, or read to her when there was nothing to do.

The two children were so fond of one another that they always held each other by the hand when they went out together, and when Snow- white said: ’We will not leave each other,’ Rose-red answered: ’Never so long as we live,’ and their mother would add: ’What one has she must share with the other.’

They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red berries, and no beasts did them any harm, but came close to them trustfully. The little hare would eat a cabbage-leaf out of their hands, the roe grazed by their side, the stag leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still upon the boughs, and sang whatever they knew.

No mishap overtook them; if they had stayed too late in the forest, and night came on, they laid themselves down near one another upon the moss, and slept until morning came, and their mother knew this and did not worry on their account.

Once when they had spent the night in the wood and the dawn had roused them, they saw a beautiful child in a shining white dress sitting near their bed. He got up and looked quite kindly at them, but said nothing and went into the forest. And when they looked round they found that they had been sleeping quite close to a precipice, and would certainly have fallen into it in the darkness if they had gone only a few paces further. And their mother told them that it must have been the angel who watches over good children.

Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother’s little cottage so neat that it was a pleasure to look inside it. In the summer Rose-red took care of the house, and every morning laid a wreath of flowers by her mother’s bed before she awoke, in which was a rose from each tree. In the winter Snow-white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the hob. The kettle was of brass and shone like gold, so brightly was it polished. In the evening, when the snowflakes fell, the mother said: ’Go, Snow- white, and bolt the door,’ and then they sat round the hearth, and the mother took her spectacles and read aloud out of a large book, and the two girls listened as they sat and spun. And close by them lay a lamb upon the floor, and behind them upon a perch sat a white dove with its head hidden beneath its wings.

One evening, as they were thus sitting comfortably together, someone knocked at the door as if he wished to be let in. The mother said: ’Quick, Rose-red, open the door, it must be a traveller who is seeking shelter.’ Rose-red went and pushed back the bolt, thinking that it was a poor man, but it was not; it was a bear that stretched his broad, black head within the door.

Rose-red screamed and sprang back, the lamb bleated, the dove fluttered, and Snow-white hid herself behind her mother’s bed. But the bear began to speak and said: ’Do not be afraid, I will do you no harm! I am half-frozen, and only want to warm myself a little beside you.’

’Poor bear,’ said the mother, ’lie down by the fire, only take care that you do not burn your coat.’ Then she cried: ’Snow-white, Rose- red, come out, the bear will do you no harm, he means well.’ So they both came out, and by-and-by the lamb and dove came nearer, and were not afraid of him. The bear said: ’Here, children, knock the snow out of my coat a little’; so they brought the broom and swept the bear’s hide clean; and he stretched himself by the fire and growled contentedly and comfortably. It was not long before they grew quite at home, and played tricks with their clumsy guest. They tugged his hair with their hands, put their feet upon his back and rolled him about, or they took a hazel-switch and beat him, and when he growled they laughed. But the bear took it all in good part, only when they were too rough he called out: ’Leave me alive, children,

’Snow-white, Rose-red, Will you beat your wooer dead?’

When it was bed-time, and the others went to bed, the mother said to the bear: ’You can lie there by the hearth, and then you will be safe from the cold and the bad weather.’ As soon as day dawned the two children let him out, and he trotted across the snow into the forest.

Henceforth the bear came every evening at the same time, laid himself down by the hearth, and let the children amuse themselves with him as much as they liked; and they got so used to him that the doors were never fastened until their black friend had arrived.

When spring had come and all outside was green, the bear said one morning to Snow-white: ’Now I must go away, and cannot come back for the whole summer.’ ’Where are you going, then, dear bear?’ asked Snow- white. ’I must go into the forest and guard my treasures from the wicked dwarfs. In the winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are obliged to stay below and cannot work their way through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the earth, they break through it, and come out to pry and steal; and what once gets into their hands, and in their caves, does not easily see daylight again.’

Snow-white was quite sorry at his departure, and as she unbolted the door for him, and the bear was hurrying out, he caught against the bolt and a piece of his hairy coat was torn off, and it seemed to Snow-white as if she had seen gold shining through it, but she was not sure about it. The bear ran away quickly, and was soon out of sight behind the trees.

A short time afterwards the mother sent her children into the forest to get firewood. There they found a big tree which lay felled on the ground, and close by the trunk something was jumping backwards and forwards in the grass, but they could not make out what it was. When they came nearer they saw a dwarf with an old withered face and a snow-white beard a yard long. The end of the beard was caught in a crevice of the tree, and the little fellow was jumping about like a dog tied to a rope, and did not know what to do.

He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes and cried: ’Why do you stand there? Can you not come here and help me?’ ’What are you up to, little man?’ asked Rose-red. ’You stupid, prying goose!’ answered the dwarf: ’I was going to split the tree to get a little wood for cooking. The little bit of food that we people get is immediately burnt up with heavy logs; we do not swallow so much as you coarse, greedy folk. I had just driven the wedge safely in, and everything was going as I wished; but the cursed wedge was too smooth and suddenly sprang out, and the tree closed so quickly that I could not pull out my beautiful white beard; so now it is tight and I cannot get away, and the silly, sleek, milk-faced things laugh! Ugh! how odious you are!’

The children tried very hard, but they could not pull the beard out, it was caught too fast. ’I will run and fetch someone,’ said Rose-red. ’You senseless goose!’ snarled the dwarf; ’why should you fetch someone? You are already two too many for me; can you not think of something better?’ ’Don’t be impatient,’ said Snow-white, ’I will help you,’ and she pulled her scissors out of her pocket, and cut off the end of the beard.

As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he laid hold of a bag which lay amongst the roots of the tree, and which was full of gold, and lifted it up, grumbling to himself: ’Uncouth people, to cut off a piece of my fine beard. Bad luck to you!’ and then he swung the bag upon his back, and went off without even once looking at the children.

Some time afterwards Snow-white and Rose-red went to catch a dish of fish. As they came near the brook they saw something like a large grasshopper jumping towards the water, as if it were going to leap in. They ran to it and found it was the dwarf. ’Where are you going?’ said Rose-red; ’you surely don’t want to go into the water?’ ’I am not such a fool!’ cried the dwarf; ’don’t you see that the accursed fish wants to pull me in?’ The little man had been sitting there fishing, and unluckily the wind had tangled up his beard with the fishing-line; a moment later a big fish made a bite and the feeble creature had not strength to pull it out; the fish kept the upper hand and pulled the dwarf towards him. He held on to all the reeds and rushes, but it was of little good, for he was forced to follow the movements of the fish, and was in urgent danger of being dragged into the water.

The girls came just in time; they held him fast and tried to free his beard from the line, but all in vain, beard and line were entangled fast together. There was nothing to do but to bring out the scissors and cut the beard, whereby a small part of it was lost. When the dwarf saw that he screamed out: ’Is that civil, you toadstool, to disfigure a man’s face? Was it not enough to clip off the end of my beard? Now you have cut off the best part of it. I cannot let myself be seen by my people. I wish you had been made to run the soles off your shoes!’ Then he took out a sack of pearls which lay in the rushes, and without another word he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.

It happened that soon afterwards the mother sent the two children to the town to buy needles and thread, and laces and ribbons. The road led them across a heath upon which huge pieces of rock lay strewn about. There they noticed a large bird hovering in the air, flying slowly round and round above them; it sank lower and lower, and at last settled near a rock not far away. Immediately they heard a loud, piteous cry. They ran up and saw with horror that the eagle had seized their old acquaintance the dwarf, and was going to carry him off.

The children, full of pity, at once took tight hold of the little man, and pulled against the eagle so long that at last he let his booty go. As soon as the dwarf had recovered from his first fright he cried with his shrill voice: ’Could you not have done it more carefully! You dragged at my brown coat so that it is all torn and full of holes, you clumsy creatures!’ Then he took up a sack full of precious stones, and slipped away again under the rock into his hole. The girls, who by this time were used to his ingratitude, went on their way and did their business in town.

As they crossed the heath again on their way home they surprised the dwarf, who had emptied out his bag of precious stones in a clean spot, and had not thought that anyone would come there so late. The evening sun shone upon the brilliant stones; they glittered and sparkled with all colours so beautifully that the children stood still and stared at them. ’Why do you stand gaping there?’ cried the dwarf, and his ashen- grey face became copper-red with rage. He was still cursing when a loud growling was heard, and a black bear came trotting towards them out of the forest. The dwarf sprang up in a fright, but he could not reach his cave, for the bear was already close. Then in the dread of his heart he cried: ’Dear Mr Bear, spare me, I will give you all my treasures; look, the beautiful jewels lying there! Grant me my life; what do you want with such a slender little fellow as I? you would not feel me between your teeth. Come, take these two wicked girls, they are tender morsels for you, fat as young quails; for mercy’s sake eat them!’ The bear took no heed of his words, but gave the wicked creature a single blow with his paw, and he did not move again.

The girls had run away, but the bear called to them: ’Snow-white and Rose-red, do not be afraid; wait, I will come with you.’ Then they recognized his voice and waited, and when he came up to them suddenly his bearskin fell off, and he stood there a handsome man, clothed all in gold. ’I am a king’s son,’ he said, ’and I was bewitched by that wicked dwarf, who had stolen my treasures; I have had to run about the forest as a savage bear until I was freed by his death. Now he has got his well-deserved punishment.

Snow-white was married to him, and Rose-red to his brother, and they divided between them the great treasure which the dwarf had gathered together in his cave. The old mother lived peacefully and happily with her children for many years. She took the two rose-trees with her, and they stood before her window, and every year bore the most beautiful roses, white and red.

#GrimmTales

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