#and then when i get to the city i have to take 2 other buses im-
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──౨ৎ ˙🚬 ̟ cigarettes out the window
엔하이픈 | Enhypen | Nishimura Riki
──Pairing: niki x afab!reader
──Genre: angst, some fluff
──Synopsis: Whenever you're unable to sleep due to your insomnia, you go to your balcony to smoke. Niki decides it might be a good idea to take a drive around the city to get some fresh air, hopefully to help you sleep
──Warnings: smoking, cigarettes, insomnia
──A/N: I have two requests that I'm currently working on. This is just a filler until those are done lol
masterlist
11:08 p.m. you read on the digital clock on your nightstand. It was another restless night. Your eyes stung from staring at the bright billboard right outside your bedroom window. The advertisement displayed on the billboard would change every 10 or so minutes. You had counted the ad changing at least 8 times since you had laid down to go to sleep with your boyfriend, Niki, who still rested beside you. His arm was still gently draped over your waist. Your insomnia wasn't new news. Usually, you were able to sleep on nights where Niki slept over at your apartment, though. Tonight was different.
Carefully, you lifted Niki's arm by the sleeve, slipping out of his hold and out of bed. You opened the nightstand drawer and grabbed your usual pack of cigarettes and a silver lighter. A light breeze blew through the room as you opened the glass door that led to a small balcony. You took a cigarette and placed it between your lips as you stepped outside. You flicked the lighter a few times before putting the flame up to the end of the cigarette.
Unbeknownst to you, Niki woke up at the feeling of your absence. His eyes fluttered open, squinting at the bright city lights spilling through the glass doors. Through the blinding lights, he could see you standing out on the balcony with a cigarette in between your index fingers. He watched as you leaned backward, elbows on the railing, tilting your head back and exhaling the smoke. You looked stunning in Niki's eyes. He knew you smoked when you couldn't sleep but he had never witnessed it in person.
You watched as people still roamed the city below you. Cars, buses and taxis still filled the streets and many stores were still open to the public. It was lively and bright even in the middle of the night. Your apartment was 7 stories above it all. Your friends and family had warned you about how noisy the city was at night. They had told you to get an apartment further from the noise. Considering your insomnia, moving to Gangnam was not the wisest choice. Most nights were spent lying awake while staring at the obnoxiously bright billboards. Other nights were spent at Niki's house where you could actually sleep in a dark and quiet room. Occasionally, Niki would spend the night at your place and, somehow, on those nights you were able to sleep despite the noise and the light.
After about an hour and a half, you took one last drag from your cigarette before putting it out on the railing and tossing the excess on the floor of your balcony. Trying not to make any noise, you stepped inside and made your way to the bathroom to brush your teeth. Niki watched the bathroom light flick on and then off as you exited. When you were done you slipped back into bed next to Niki, shifting back into his arms. The smell of cigarettes still lingered on your old band t-shirt.
After another 2 hours of trying to sleep, you got back up, sighing in frustration. Niki was fast asleep again so you carefully tiptoed out to the balcony. You leaned your stomach against the railing as you lit up another cigarette between your lips. Then you hear the sliding glass door open and shut, and a familiar hand finds its way around your waist.
"Can't sleep, beautiful?" You hear Niki's deep voice which is groggy from waking up so suddenly. Next to you, you see him rub his eyes before leaning on the balcony with you. "What's going on in that pretty mind of yours, hmm?" He gives you a concerned look as you exhale smoke. You shake your head as you flick some of the cigarette ashes.
"I don't know, Ki. It's never been this bad." You take another drag from your cigarette as you stare anywhere but at your boyfriend. Seeing you like this makes Niki almost want to blame himself. After all, you did move to Gangnam to live closer to him.
"You should stop doing that." He says quietly, pointing at your cigarette.
"I know," you sigh, letting smoke rise into the air. "I'm going to soon. Don't worry about me."
"But I am worried about you and I want to make you feel better no matter what." Niki explains, taking one of your hands in his. He's sincere in every word that he says. Helping you is his life's goal, at this point, and he's determined to get you back onto a normal sleep schedule. "Let's go for a drive, yeah? Maybe it will help calm you down enough to get at least some rest tonight."
"Niki, I don't think that's going to-"
"If it doesn't work, I'll stay here all day until you're able to sleep." He cupped both of your cheeks, pleading you to let him try to help. "Please.." You nodded reluctantly before putting out your cigarette and tossing it with the rest.
You hopped into the passenger seat of Niki's car; a black Ferrari Enzo. You hadn't been in his car at night many times. It was an astounding experience. Niki would always take the streets with barely any cars so he could speed down the asphalt roads. The windows would be rolled all the way down, letting the wind hit your faces. If you weren't close by to any residential areas, he would blast music as well. You were also allowed to smoke in Niki's car, which was not preferred but he allowed it.
Driving with him was so much fun that by the end of the drive you were all tired out. Enough to make you fall asleep as soon as you were home. Niki came over to your side of the car, opening your door for you. He walked you into your apartment and even tucked you into bed. His sweetness warmed your heart. Before leaving, Niki made sure to close the blinds to darken your room. He knew you hated how bright the city was at night.
"Get some sleep, beautiful. You deserve it." He said, wiping stray hairs from your face. He leaned down to place a kiss on your forehead before turning to leave. Not long after Niki left, your eyelids felt heavy. Now you could finally get some sleep.
© strawberrynull, 2024. Do not copy my work. Please DM for permission before translating or reuploading. Thank You
#enhypen#enhypen fluff#enhypen imagines#enhypen oneshots#enhypen x reader#enha x reader#enha fluff#enha#kpop#kpop fluff#enhypen niki#niki#niki x reader#niki fluff#niki enhypen#niki imagines#niki oneshots#enhypen angst#enha angst#niki angst#strawberrynull#Spotify
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Hi! Could you give meet uglies and cutes that takes place in public transport?
Hi, sure :)
Meet Cutes/Uglies: Public Transport Edition
the only place for their luggage on the train is the overhead bin and they struggle so much that someone gets up to help them
one of them has a ticket that allows another person to ride with them, so they invite a random stranger to use their ticket, requirement for this is that they have to stay together for the whole ride
an engine failure is the reason why a 100 people get stranded at a little train station in the middle of nowhere, all trying to find their way home
sitting next to each other on a long bus/train ride and starting to talk about anything and everything
the train has a two hour delay and they start to bond over their annoyance
it's rush hour, the bus is completely full and the only way to not fall is to cling to the person closest to them
sharing a taxi, because they need to go to the same place
calling the conductor on the train, because the other one is sitting on the seat they booked and doesn’t want to move
there is nothing worse on a train, then when someone close by starts to make really loud phone calls for hours on end, talking about private issues without shame
it's their first time on a ferry, but it's the only way to get to the other city and sorry to the other passengers, but they get incredibly sea sick
almost as bad is when the person next to them starts unpacking their food and it's probably yummy, but it smells a lot and they will tell them that
the rails are being repaired, so they have to use rail replacement buses to get to the next train station, but they have to work together to find out how to get there because there are no signs and nothing makes any kind of sense
when the bus makes a sharp turn they suddenly find themself on the lap of a stranger
their seat neighbour is watching a Netflix show with subtitles, so they start to watch too and get invested
I'm using public transport daily and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I've just come back from a trip where the train was late for 2 hours and there was no AC at over 30 degrees. Still love to have the option to just go anywhere without having to use cars.
- Jana
PS: Schienenersatzverkehrshaltestellen (rail replacement coach stops) in Germany are notorious for being difficult to find and hard to navigate. I definitely met other frustated and lost people like that before.
#anon ask#meet cutes#meet uglies#prompt list#writeblr#writers on tumblr#writing community#writing prompts
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trying to leave my aunt & uncle's house this morning
wake up & realise that i forgot to tell anyone that i'm technically booked onto the 11am train. it is already almost 10. this isn't a huge problem as i have an open return so can get any train w/e
'i forgot to tell you i booked the 11am' 'oh that's not happening' 'yeah ik'
go to check on the app when the next train is. see that the 11am is cancelled due to weather conditions
oh no.jpg
tell my aunt
'oh no' yeah.
sit on her sofa for the next half an hour or so and watch the 11:30, 12 and 12:30 trains all get cancelled
my cousin (11): you could just stay 2 more hours
yeah the trains. probably aren't gonna be running in 2 hours sorry.
maybe they will drive me home?? (it's like 1 hour)
'are the buses running' *checks* yeah :(
go to bus stop. it's raining.
see a bus go by in the other direction. 'are you sure you checked the right bus timetable' *double checks* yeah we're good
stand around for 5-6 minutes anxiously trying to figure out if the buses are actually running or have been cancelled
the bus website is saying the next bus isn't coming through till 2pm but is saying that there will be a bus at the other stop in the village in 5 minutes so mixed signals!!
bus arrives
realise i'm so used to edinburgh buses (flat fare) that i forget i have to like talk to the bus driver and tell him where i'm going
take ages to figure out how to pay
bus driver waits for me to sit down before driving off. this makes sense given that i have bags and am the only person boarding but im used to the city so im just screaming internally at holding everyone up
bus is so so busy
windows are very foggy so hard to tell what's going on but fortunately i'm going all the way
at one point we start reversing and i'm like ???? before remembering ohh lol yeah this is the part of the Edinburgh-Galashiels bus route where the bus goes backwards for a bit i remember now
anyway i got home eventually
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Little Bit Better Than I Used To Be
Catch up: Chapter 1 (Starry Eyes) || Chapter 2 (Save Our Souls) || Chapter 3 (Dancing On Glass)|| Chapter 4 (Merry-Go-Round)|| Backstage (1) || Backstage (2) || Chapter 5 (Danger)|| Backstage (3) || Chapter 6A (Love Walked In) || Chapter 6B (Without You) || Backstage (4) || Chapter 7 (Stick To Your Guns) || Chapter 8 (Time For Change) || Backstage (5) || Chapter 9 (Take Me To The Top) || Backstage (6) || Chapter 10 (Home Sweet Home) || Backstage (7) || Chapter 11a (Nightrain) || Chapter 11b (Nothing Else Matters) || Chapter 12a (Handle With Care) || Chapter 12b (I’m So Tired of Being Lonely) || Chapter 13a (Angel) || Chapter 13b (She’s My Addiction) || Chapter 13c (Patience) || Chapter 14a (Where Do We Go Now?) || Chapter 14b (Where Do We Go Now?) || Chapter 14c (Where Do We Go Now?) || Chapter 15a (Dreams) || Chapter 15b (I Sing A Song of Love) || Chapter 15c (You Can Do This If You Try) || Chapter 16 (Let That Feeling Grab You Deep Inside || Chapter 17A: Never Tear Us Apart || Chapter 17B: It’s Tough To Be Somebody, And It’s Hard Not To Fall Apart || Chapter 17C: I'm Wishing, Lord, That I Was Stoned ||| Also posted at AO3
Chapter 18: Turn The Page
New York City || September 1988
So you walk into this restaurant
All strung out from the road
And you feel the eyes upon you
As you're shakin' off the cold
You pretend it doesn't bother you
But you just want to explode
-- “Turn The Page,” Bob Seger (1971) [click here to listen]
Claire Fraser took a long drink from the glass of water beside the bathroom sink. Closed her eyes. Counted five deep breaths.
Bob Seger’s voice flowed through the tiny portable radio that she and Jamie took everywhere on the road.
Here I am, on the road again
There I am, up on the stage
There I go playin' the star again
There I go, turn the page
She opened her eyes. Listened to the man sing so passionately, so desperately, about his exhaustion and heartbreak from living in the spotlight. Touring relentlessly. Feeling displaced in his own life.
“Claire?”
Jamie poked his head around the door, humming along with the song.
Not for the first time, Claire was grateful that the tour had wildly exceeded all expectations – the private plane instead of tour buses; limos to and from the gig; and hotel suites that were so large they typically had two bathrooms.
Not that they minded sharing, of course – but living on top of each other could be hard sometimes. On nights like these, she needed her own space.
And now, Jamie met her eyes in the mirror.
Enjoyed his surprise.
“What…you…”
She turned to face him. Took a moment to admire him in all black – the dress shirt that she had ironed for him this morning, black jeans, black belt with silver studs, boots. The leather jacket whose inside pocket she tucked a love note into every morning.
She raised her arms. “What do you think?”
The red dress wasn’t something she had intended to buy, that afternoon in Miami when the band needed a few hours with Colum to discuss the European leg of next year’s tour (“the leg owed to the fans, after the shit Jamie pulled last year before he got clean,” he had reminded them). She had kindly suggested to Charlotte and Molly – Angus’ groupie girlfriends – that rather than spend another afternoon inside, they explore the shopping mall attached to the hotel. Jamie had insisted that one of the roadies go with them, to deal with any photographers or aggressive fans – but Claire had only smiled and said that it would be fine.
She had been correct, of course. It was such a breath of fresh air to walk up and down the long corridors, eat Cuban sandwiches in the food court, browse the selections in the department stores and specialty boutiques. Anonymous. To interact with sales clerks not as the wife/girlfriend of the biggest rock musicians in the world – but simply as three women having a nice afternoon out together.
And, truth be told, it was good to get some time with Charlotte and Molly. They asked – respectfully – about her relationship with Jamie, and she in turn asked – respectfully – about their relationship with Angus. Watched them tear up when Charlotte started talking about the uncertainty before them when the tour ended, and when Molly wondered whether they would ever be enough.
Not quite knowing what to say, Claire absently pulled through a clearance rack – and then…
“Ohmygod Claire!” Molly exclaimed. “You have to try that one on!”
Startled, Claire focused on the sleeveless, ankle-length red dress.
“Jamie will freak when he sees that on you!” Charlotte smiled, shifting an armful of lingerie to look closer.
Claire pursed her lips. Thinking.
“Come on, Claire! You need to look like the rockstar wife you are.” Molly grabbed the dress. “Let’s go try it on. Come on!”
Initially she had only wanted to placate Molly. But when she saw herself in the dressing room mirror, she immediately knew how Jamie would react.
Three weeks later, she was correct.
She swirled slightly, enjoying the feel of the fabric swishing around her calves. The bite of cold air on her bare chest and belly. And the incredulous look on Jamie’s face, eyes dark.
“It’s very…red,” he stammered. “Are you wearing a bra?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s our first event as a couple. And as husband and wife. We need to make a splash.”
He swallowed. Stepped closer to take her elbows, thumbs stroking the soft skin.
“I suppose. Every man will have his eyes on you tonight.”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll only feel yours.”
His eyes darkened. “I like knowing, that at any time tonight, I can just do this…” One hand trailed across the fabric of the dress, over her breast, until it reached the strip of exposed skin spanning her neck to her navel. “And then this…” His thumb edged under the flap, teasing the underside of her breast, in the way he knew would drive her absolutely crazy.
Her lips parted. His eyes locked on hers – taking in the red tones sweeping her eyes and cheeks, and her scarlet lipstick, and the silver hoops hanging in her ears.
“Can we just stay here tonight?” he asked softly, not exactly joking.
She shook her head. “Jamie, Lou fucking Reed came to the show at Madison Square Garden last night and not only insisted on meeting you and complimenting your music, he invited us to his party tonight. He’s had his own addiction issues, he’s not a dummy. And we’ve talked about this, we can’t avoid parties forever. It will be good for all those people to see you.”
He removed his thumb from her breast, and bridged the gap between them to lean his forehead against hers. Without words, their hands found each other, twining and grasping.
As was their habit now, he pressed their thumbs together. The C she had tattooed at the base of his thumb, mingling with the J he had tattooed at the base of her thumb.
“It’s going to be so hard, Claire. Not that I don’t want to see people, or show you off, or help you get to know them.” He swallowed. “I’ve been to these kinds of parties before. Huge open bar. Waitresses in low cut dresses handing around trays of drugs like it was a tray of snacks. People doing lines on the tables. People…fucking in the bathroom.”
She swallowed. “I’ll stay with you the whole time. You can be my excuse to stop talking to someone if it gets too awkward. Or to say no, if something like that is offered to you. You know I don’t care, right?”
He nodded. Hands shaking.
“Do you want to call Raymond?”
He shook his head. “Not right now. Tomorrow, definitely. Let me see how I get through this. Maybe we agree on a few points for tonight?”
“Anything. I love you.”
He smiled. “OK. I’ve got gum in my pocket – that will keep us from getting too thirsty. And if we need something to drink, we’ll ask for club soda, and we’ll watch the drink poured in front of us. I don’t care if it’s awkward. I can’t trust.”
She released one hand from his grip, and slid it into the back pocket of his jeans. “Got it. And you know it’s easier if we touch, right? Hold my hand. Put your hand on my hip. I don’t care. I’ll be right there with you. And you’ll be right there for me.”
He stepped closer, and she parted her legs, and he stood between them. Pressing her hips against the bathroom counter.
“If we get separated, Jamie, I promise I’ll stay true to my sobriety, and to you.”
“I promise the same. I only want you.”
“I’ll touch my letter on you. Will you?”
“Yes,” he swallowed. Kissing the arch of her eyebrow. “That will help. But let’s also agree on a signal, if one of us feels need for love. And the need to go.”
She rubbed the tip of her nose against his. Breath so warm on his lips. “How about…” She tapped the center of his chest. “Touch here. Close to your heart. That’s where I feel need, when I want to love you. Is that where you feel it, too?”
“Yes,” he breathed. “It pools here. Like fire. God, I need to kiss you, Claire. Please let me kiss you.”
She turned her face away, smiling. “I don’t want you to smudge my lipstick. And I want you to hold that thought all night, Jamie. Hold on to that pool of fire. Can you do that for me?”
She felt his smile against her jaw. “Gonna be so, so good when we get back here,” he growled.
“I know, baby. It will keep us strong and true tonight. I love you.”
He pulled back a bit. Raised her hand to his lips. Kissed her wedding ring.
“I love you, Dr. Mrs. Fraser.”
She smiled. “I love you, you idiot. Come on. The limo should be waiting.”
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Hey Tumblr disability and neurodivergence communities?
I wanted to thank y'all for helping my husband get comfortable with getting a support my eldest needs.
-
NQ goes to a middle school that is just SLIGHTLY under the minimum distance away to qualify for bus transport. (His elementary school, across a field, WAS far enough away.) We didn't have any trouble getting an exception for him this year, since in elementary school I needed to make eye contact with a teacher and have them acknowledge they were accepting responsibility for him. He had no agency at all, so obviously he couldn't be trusted to walk all the way to school!
This year, though. He's flourished. The school trusts him to get into the building himself, to get on and off the bus himself, to decide for himself when he needs breaks, etc. And as a 'reward,' our government sent me a form titled 'Physician's Certification of Physical/Severe Cognitive Ability,' to be filled out before he is allowed school busing next year.
It's full of hyperbolic language like, 'it is imperative that only those truly in need are provided this service,' 'the disability must be deemed severe or chronic,' 'resources ... are extremely limited,' and 'it is physically impossible for the individual to walk/take [Public] Transit.'
My husband was obviously uncomfortable. NQ is a smart and capable kid in many areas. He's autistic, (and ADHD) not cognitively disabled. My husband sees the world as possibilities and strengths, and didn't want to say things like that about his son.
So I talked to him about posts you guys have made that walk people through getting diagnosed, and/or filling out forms about disabilities. About the importance of describing the person's worst days, the ones where they will need the support the most, rather than focusing on what they can do at their best.
He got it! He supports us talking to the doctor! And he told me how grateful he was that I'd learned this stuff.
We got to talk about the reasons NQ REALLY needs bus support:
no sense of direction
forgets what he's doing and wanders vaguely for 20 minutes on a regular basis
VERY easily distracted
'Getting Off The City Bus At The Right Stop' is an advanced skill, and, for those with ADHD, requires a prerequisite 'Can Problem Solve What To Do When You're 10 Stops Past Your Stop And Lost'
'Checking That This is The Correct City Bus' is also an advanced skill
minimal stranger danger
germ phobias mean that if he wiped his nose his fingers would 'become contaminated,' which would mean he could NOT put his gloves back on, even if it was -20℃ (0℉). Which is a major frostbite risk.
no impulse control if he misses his medication - can not be trusted to not do things that might harm himself/others
without meds there is a 2% chance of him getting to school unassisted (with meds, he might be able to get up to 90% on good days)
Like, taking the bus is actually a sign of maturity! Previously, I had to drive him most days, and I still do 3 mornings a week. The 2 mornings he walks himself to the bus stop (and the afternoons he walks himself home) are things I'm really proud of! If we don't qualify for the school bus, he's going to go back to relying entirely on me, rather than slowly increasing his independence.
So thank you. Getting my husband's support on this was really important to me. You guys gave me the words to do it.
#disability#neurodivergence#possibly#ableism#none of this is meant to be 'ugh why can't he do these things'#half of them are things I struggled with even as an adult#there's a reason I say 'getting off the bus at the right stop' has prerequisites
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I don't normally vent, but... TLDR: I was mugged in a city, a country, where I am a foreigner and the supposed friends who were helping me told another friend I was acting "entitled" to their help. It was heavily implied I had to APOLOGIZE to them. AITA or not AITA? I now have much bigger trust issues than I had last week.
Long version:
I've been living in the UK for almost 2 years, and I went down to London on Friday for a break from a stressful work-week. The first night went well, dinner and a show, and I fell asleep at a decent enough time to wake up early on Saturday for 9:30AM yoga with, for lack of a better term, friends of a friend. It was a relatively nice morning, so I decided to take one of the buses instead of schlepping my way down to the Tube (which I still call the subway most days coz, can you blame the proverbial Yankee visiting King Charles' Court?). I got off the bus in the City, what they call the business area in London as a whole, I have been made to understand. Google Maps told me it was an easy walk from the bus stop to the hotel where the yoga class was, but there were several alley/side road closures where the app wanted me to go. I was still on a nice, wide sidewalk, with few cars on the street and few people around me too. I paused at what felt like a safe intersection on that wide sidewalk, right by a modern glass building with CCTV hanging off it and CCTVs on the crosswalk traffic lights a few meters away. I was as far from the roadside as possible, and out of precautionary habit, I had my back turned to the road a little to protect the phone I had out in my hand. I was texting those sort-of friends that I was a few minutes out, and trying to get Google Maps to reroute me.
Suddenly, a black glove appeared in front of my face and my phone was snatched away by what looked like a man in an electric blue puffer hoodie, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk. I tried to chase him, but between the coffee I had to let go of and the duffle bag on my shoulder, it was hopeless. He disappeared around the corner I had been considering walking along myself, and I was left to ask for help from the four passersby at the crosswalk. Two of them happened to be a father and daughter (Brits, but also just visitors in London). The father wrote down my exact location and the time so I could report it to the police. When I said I had friends at a nearby hotel, he and his daughter helped me find my way to it. They didn't have to walk me in, but they did. "We'll wait here," he said at the top of an escalator, "and wait for you to give us a thumbs up if the receptionist has located your friends". The receptionist did, I signaled the two perfect strangers that all was well, and we waved goodbye as they headed off to continue their day.
What followed should have been an exercise in practicality. The boyfriend of one of those sort-of friends (let's call him M) and a hotel staffer helped me contact the police and cancel my debit card (which had been in my snatched cellphone's case). Two officers came to the hotel so I could give them my statement, etc. All the while, M sat with me, updating his girlfriend and the others who still continued on with their yoga session. The police asked me to take them to the spot where the crime occurred. M was still with me, and as we walked out of the hotel, his girlfriend (T) and more people than I expected (I'd only though I was meeting T and another friend I'll call W) came out to join us. I hadn't realized that a whole hour had passed since I'd arrived at the hotel. Their yoga session was over.
At that point, I was torn between (1) feeling marginally better because I had company who knew the city and (2) trying to keep it together in the face of everything that losing a smartphone in 2024 implies. After the police took down the added details at the incident site, T and co. asked me if I wanted to still go to brunch. I agreed since I needed to sit, was shaken, and, though I didn't feel it at the time, did need more than half a cup of coffee in my stomach. At the restaurant, I tried to stay in good spirits. Aside from T, M, and W, there were two people in the group I had never met before, and we were joined by yet another person. I managed to shovel down most of an avocado toast and an Irish coffee (I effing needed the boost). T and her friends had moved on from the usual "sorry that happened to you" and were playing catch up while I asked M where I could find my phone carrier and a place I could get a new phone. I'd come to the UK with the phone that had been snatched, and had only gotten a SIM-only plan with the carrier. I thought the practical thing, since I don't know how many more months/years I'd be in the UK, would be to buy a new phone, then have my carrier block the stolen phone's SIM and issue me a new one. M and I Google Mapped my options, added in my own hotel location so I could grab my passport on the way. I admitted that, considering everything, I (1) needed help getting navigating to those places from where we were and that (2) I didn't feel good enough to be alone just yet. We paid (I still thankfully have working credit cards) for our food and finally left the restaurant.
This is where, to my mind, the uncomfortable part started. Two of the extra 3 people (remember, I was only supposed to have been with T, W, and M, but they had a total of 3 other friends there too), and somehow what should have been a quick 20-30 minutes to get my passport from my hotel and then drop me off on the street with the phone and carrier store became 6 nerve-wracking hours with a too-large group. I said nothing when they started doing "for the gram" picture stops along the way. M went up to my hotel room with me when I got my passport. He took a photo of some passwords on my laptop that I might need when the phone or carrier store staff helped me with my phone. (In hindsight, we should have used pen and paper.) Then our group of 5 all went in what I assume was the direction of the two stores. W was navigating, and at that point, the streets were so crowded and I was getting very tense that I just trusted she knew what she was doing. In my mind, I kept replaying the mugging over and over, what I could have done differently, etc, etc. (I know what happened wasn't my fault, but at the time, I couldn't help it) and listing what I'd have to do first when I got the replacement phone and SIM. I didn't know T and co. well enough to tell them I was internally seeing red and trying not to spiral. Then, suddenly, we stopped walking... at a bubble tea place. I'd only vaguely heard what the group had been talking about as we walked along, since it seemed to be more Instagram/YOLO, etc stuff and no one was asking my input anyway. I smiled tightly and declined an offer for them to buy my bubble tea, opting to stand outside the store to work on staying calm. I didn't realize (hadn't been told) they wanted a break or anything, but I couldnt complain since I was literally dependent on them until I could get a new phone. We eventually got to the phone store, the last remaining extra person left, and I had to pay full price for a phone because as a foreigner I couldn't get on the monthly payment plans. T, M, and W, instead of just pointing me to the carrier store three shops down, came in with me and waited while I talked to the staff. At some point, W or T asked if I wanted coffee, and, while I thanked them for still being there, I declined the drink again. I thought they'd go off to a nearby café or something since I had paperwork, etc to fill. They and M never left. By the time I got the new SIM in the phone and the staff had advised me to go back to the store where I'd bought the phone to get help setting it up, M, T, and W were still there. They went back to the phone store with me, and T told me to stop being so anxious and sit down while we waited in the queue for assistance.
By then, it was almost 5 in the afternoon. The tech assistant helped as much as he could, since I was basically setting up my phone from scratch, but said I could do the rest with my tablet back at my hotel... or come back to the store with it before closing time so he could walk me through that part. T gave me a card with some of the friend-group's phone numbers, and she, M, and W still walked me to my hotel (I'm pretty sure it was unpromted, but my head was so foggy at that point from all I had done and still had to do). It turned out the hotel was a 10-min walk in a straight line from the phone shop. We got to the entrance to my hotel, I said thanks to them for being there the whole time, and they left. I handled grabbing my tablet and walking right back (in 5 min) to the phone shop to finish setup alone. The day ended with me exhausted, having a semi-functional phone that I'd have to wait to fully fix still when I got to my apartment (in a place I jokingly nickname the Shire) after the weekend, and crying to friends back in the States in a call over a lousy room-service dinner. I told them what happened, including my misgivings over all the YOLO stops, and they calmed me down and helped me a little more with fixing my phone.
I got at most two hours of sleep by the time the sun rose on Sunday morning... and then made myself presentable enough to meet A, the original London friend who had introduced me to T, W, and M where I first arrived in the country. I told him that while I was grateful for his friends' help the previous day, I didn't think I could go through that again. (I didn't exactly want to say "they're good-time people, but I don't know if I'd want the...awkward stops all over the place again if I were ever in another crisis around them.") What A said... upset me. T, M, and W had apparently complained to him that, while they still thought I was a lovely person (ah, Britishisms!) I acted "entitled" to their company the whole afternoon and was scowling too much. They didn't regret canceling plans for me, but I seemed "ungrateful in my human interactions with them". A all but said I had to APOLOGIZE to his friends.
I'm in my early 30s, with a no-nonsense, get-shit-done North American mentality and I'm aware my default expression, especially when I'm too tired, is RBF (resting bitch face, for those too young to know), and I feel terrible if I need to drag anyone at all into my messes. They're energetic and bubbly Brits in their late 20s. But they really could have left me at any point, just given me directions and left, and I would not at all have held it against them. Just like I was grateful and held nothing against that father with the kid who initially helped me after the mugging. Is this an AITA situation? Did I miss anything? Is this a subtle cultural/age/millennial-GenZ divide?
I'm still tired as FUCK, trying to get used to this new phone, and have a LOT of life admin to do suddenly after this whole weekend. If you have any thoughts or comments, whoever and wherever you are, feel free to say something.
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I've been thinking about getting Workers and Resources but have a two questions about it:
1. how low can you get those graphics to increase performance? my laptop is NOT built for gaming but I crave a planned economy simulator
2. does it have similar issues to cities skylines? either in terms of bugginess or gameplay plateauing and getting boring
thx so much :)
1: I do have a gaming laptop but to reduce its operation to about the same as a standard consumer laptop, I run 4 firefox windows each with 30 tabs and also have MATLAB constantly running. This eats about 80% of its functional ram and CPU/GPU power. Despite this sadist torture of my beloved silicon sister, she can still run W&R:SR adequately with their lowest auto settings. The game runs on unity (afaik) so you can customize most of the major things in the initial startup menu.
2: In my humble opinion, W&R:SR is in a completely different league to any other city builder. I would argue that it is the quintessential economy management sim.
It is a a slow game. It challenges your patience as much as it does your planning, management, and calculation skills. Expect to have the calculator open on your phone on in another window when playing and a notepad for tracking required manpower and economic consumption vs output. Does the game get boring? I would say sometimes it does! Waiting for an entire city to build up by itself can take several hours on maximum time speedup, which may or may not be your cup of tea.
Comparing W&R:SR to city skylines is like comparing a construction site to a lego set.
Sim management is about as specific as you can go without controlling each individual citizen. Command your citizens to go to specific buildings to work or wait for transit. Command your citizens to go to which stations or buildings for work or for play or for education, etc..
The biggest example of difference I like to use is the water management. In cities skylines, you drop a sewage dump, and a well then you connect magical underground pipes and call it a day. This will not work in W&R:SR. Water must reach a certain quality of treatment of your citizens will get sick. You have to power these facilities and also take sewage out from them. Water must be supplied to every building which workers work. Sewers must run on a downwards slope and pumps must be built if there is an unfortunate slope. Sewage can be treated to reduce pollution or to return some fresh water back into the system. Some factories, such as the concrete plant, requires water as a resource. If you cannot afford pipes or do not want to run pipes down to some stupid wood-cutting shack, you can use the water distributor/sewage hub as a water tank/septic tank and have your maintenance depots take care of them.
This doesn't even touch on having to supply heat and clear snow during winter, having enough granaries to survive the winter when crops don't grow, managing the waste, demolition, and recycling of materials, maintaining your aging vehicles with repair shops and supplying fuel for all your cars, trucks, planes, ships, trains, and buses, and much, much more.
Oh and there is a very vibrant modding scene; the devs even hold contests/votes to put popular mods into the vanilla game (with compensation and credit, ofc). It's also the only game where you can get tankie memes in the community page and actual propaganda.
It's a very dense game, to say the least, and it kicks my ass a lot but im too much of a commie and a masochist to say no.
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I have a tarot reading request about my work + social life situation. I am basically burnt out from my job to the point that I'm unable or unwilling to accept even thanks or praise. Most of it relates to my manager, who has an imprecise yet emotionally blunt and at times exacting manner of communication that feels tailor-made to make technical discussions nearly impossible (I am a software engineer, and a fairly sensitive person. He is a military veteran who believes strongly in doing the fastest thing that works, and has been known to critique people to their face openly in group settings.) So I know the "correct" thing to do is grind up my LeetCode and start job hunting … but that would mean sitting down with a traditional data structures & algorithms text when I feel like I would much rather invest myself intellectually in my pipe dream of learning mathematics / getting, someday, to participate in the new univalent foundations of mathematics (maybe even as a programmer.) At the same time, the usual outlets I might have of getting to go for long walks / socialize on weekends feel increasingly out of reach, since I live in the outskirts of my city and the public transit authority there has been cancelling the trains for shuttle buses for most weekends, for what is going on 2 years now (at least since after the pandemic.) Having to ride buses instead of just hop on a train on weekends, for promised signal improvements that feel like they will never come, is slowly killing any sense of spontaneity and connection with casual human society outside of work for me. And even thinking about moving feels impossible (I have a housemate, my sibling, who I love dearly but I'm just not sure I want to commit to another 3-5 yrs. of cohabitation with.) Every direction in which I might reasonably turn for some vision of life outside of the cramped, artificial one where our company is super great! and everything is super exciting! despite the burnout and the constant reorgs and the whole new managerial clique we just got that's in charge of everything now, and, and, and … feels increasingly closed off. Would love any interpretation you could offer.
thank you for volunteering your fate to be decided by our still experimental divinatory process, here at dorothy twocubes' 24-hour bad advice hour™! as always, i must remind you, that this should only be taken seriously if it's good advice; otherwise, it's a joke, haha, why would you take it seriously? anyways let's get started
you seem to have some idea of what you want, and you seem to need advice regarding what to do next, so i will try with that mainstay, that good old spread that everyone likes and uses, Sun Tzu's five factors that decide battles. also i haven't done this in a while and this one i used a bunch before so maybe it's appropriate idk
alright.
Purpose: ONE OF FISHES, reversed
Purpose here means what you're trying to do, your goals. If you were like, a leader of a group, it would be the reason that other people follow you. What keeps you going as like, an entity.
FISHES are to do with your social position in the world, where you are relative to others in the way that it defines who you are.
ONE is to do with something being complete, filled, all there, enough. that sort of thing
and it's reversed
Landscape: ONE HALF OF HEARTS, reversed
Landscape here means the environment you're navigating. Where you are relative to other things and other people in the sense of like, obstacles or resources or... yknow, things that must be practically considered
HEARTS are to do with perpetuance; with what it is that sustains, what allows something to continue to exist. health, both literal and metaphorical
ONE HALF is to do with stuff being incomplete; things that are started but not finished, things that are there but not sufficient, partialness
and it's reversed
Climate: NINE OF DIAMONDS, reversed
Climate here means transient stuff that affects the landscape. The mood of the world, the weather. The way the world is changing.
DIAMONDS are to do with what you value, what gives your life purpose, meaning. What fulfills you.
and it's reversed
Doctrine: OMEGA PLUS ONE OF DIAMONDS, upright
Doctrine is what you are trained to do, what your standard operating procedures are. What you can do without having to learn to do new things.
OMEGA PLUS ONE is to do with utopia. While OMEGA is to do with your ideals, that which you pursue without particular expectation that you might ever attain, OMEGA PLUS ONE is to do with the world that you might imagine if you attained your maybe-unattainable ideals.
and it's upright
Leadership: EIGHT OF DIAMONDS, reversed
Leadership is the strategy you chose, given all the other things here.
EIGHT is to do with networks. Stuff being connected to stuff that is connected to more stuff.
and it's upright
In addition, there is an arithmetic relationship between the cards:
8 + 1 = 9
this suggests that we should think of our interpretation of 9 as being a more direct consequence of the coordination of 8 and 1
I read these cards thus:
You are in a situation here where, in principle, your social position is fully secured, but your desire here is to leave this security.
The world you live in is one where people are struggling to support themselves and what-makes-them-themselves, and at the moment people are overall having to make hard choices regarding the pursuit of those precious things that make their life worth living.
You have the ability already, without having to learn it, to do what you think you would do in ideal circumstances.
So, given all this, the cards are suggesting that you should reach out in pursuit of what-gives-your-life-value and work with others; friends, acquaintances and acquaintances-of-acquaintances. In particular, the hard choices other people are making may give you some form of opportunity to change your social position.
...
Anyways, that's my reading. Maybe these cards make sense to you in some other way? Maybe this is helpful? Maybe it isn't? Either way, I claim no responsibility :p
Thanks for this opportunity to further test our experimental variant on the classic card-based rpg solitaire "cartomancy". i would be happy for feedback or a tip, but, it's also absolutely fine if you'd rather not. it's your choice, and we respect that.
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I’m so glad that you had a lovely time in Tokyo!! Bring me in your suitcase next time? /j <3
What’s your advice for travelling on your own???
This is probably going to be a long one, so I apologize in advance 😅 Here's some advice that has helped me on my solo trips to Korea and Japan:
• Do research on where you're going. See what's allowed in the country (especially if you're bringing medications). Read up on other people's travel experiences in that country. Know what kind of transportation you'll need to use there and how to access it (trains, buses, taxis, rental cars). Make sure you have a bit of an idea of what to expect when you get there, so culture shock won't hit you hard.
• Have foreign currency *before* you leave. Chances are you'll need it as soon as you land at your destination.
• Make sure you have a power adapter/wall charger in case they have different outlets. A back up phone charger and pocket wifi is also a must!
• Find points of interest that you might enjoy visiting and make a private Google map with all those places marked. Then if you're in an area that happens to have a lot of your interests in it, you can tackle them all at once. This was my map for Tokyo! I made two separate lists; one for places I wanted to visit, and one for restaurants I wanted to try.
Unfortunately I didn't get to visit all of these because my trip was only 5 days. But it gave me a good idea of areas I could go to hit multiple points of interest!
• Make sure all your legal documents are valid. Passports, visas, licenses, etc. Make sure you know what documents you need to enter that country. Also bring a photocopy of those documents just in case something happens to the original.
• Get travel insurance. It's cheap and easy to get. And if something goes wrong, you'll be completely covered to be flown back home.
• Do what you can to keep yourself safe. You can buy personal safety items or read up on self defensive measures to take while traveling. I have this little siren doorstop, so if anyone tries to come into my hotel room, it not only blocks the door from opening but also emits a 120db siren to scare anyone off.
And it works *very well*. I nearly deafened myself when testing it XD
• Always be alert and aware of your surroundings. Tourists are easy targets for pickpockets because we're so distracted by everything (especially in big, tourist heavy cities).
• Never tell anyone that you're traveling alone. Book your hotel room for 2 people (its the same price as single rooms anyway). And give your hotel info to someone back home that you trust so they can know where you'll be.
• Trust your gut instinct too. If you're getting bad vibes off someone, just walk away and distance yourself from them.
• Don't be afraid to try new things! New foods, music, dancing, shows, festivals, etc. Just get out there and see things you've never seen before!
• This is kinda a personal preference one, but *avoid* tourist spots. So many people line up to take the same pics in the same tourist trap locations, waiting hours just for nothing. Instead, speak to locals and do things they recommend! Or just wander around and see what you stumble across. Touristy areas tend to have more expensive prices for everything anyway, so you'll save money going elsewhere! XD
• Allow your plans to change based on what you personally feel like doing in that moment. Don't force yourself to stick to a travel itinerary.
• Bring snacks just in case your tum craves something familiar. I usually stick to granola bars or Biscoffs since they last a while.
• If you're going somewhere that has a different language, learn the basics in that language. Knowing how to say "hello", "yes", "no", and "thank you" will help you so much! And locals tend to love seeing tourists put an effort into trying to communicate with them in their language.
• Also be patient. There will be times when there will be confusion between you and other people. That's just what happens when two different cultures meet. But don't get mad. Try calmly working thru the confusion and see if you can figure something out.
• On that same note, BE KIND. You are a guest in someone else's home. You have no right to demand things to be a specific way. Respect their rules, even if it doesn't make sense to you. Be grateful that you have this amazing opportunity that so many others may never have.
Solo traveling can be pretty intimidating. But if you plan and prepare everything well before you leave, your trip will be so much more enjoyable!
Let me know if you have any other questions about solo traveling! I want you guys to have safe and fun trips too!! ^^
#ama#nokki natter#ask#sorry for the long write up but I put a lot of effort into my solo trips XD#travel tips
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my toxic trait is that i spend all my time brainstorming ways i could convincingly fit into my fav series instead of doing what i’m supposed to be. anyways so far here’s what i have for blue lock:
Reader is some kind of physical maintenence for the building: cook, janitor, repairman, etc. this leads to lots of funny shennanigans in the kitchen/storeroom/closets, forgetting to lock the doors, and the boys discovering a whole set of secret “STAFF ONLY” tunnels that are used for very non-staff purposes ;)
Bonus for this, because Blue Lock is an isolated building in the mountains, means Reader would likely have their own room or a dorm with fewer roommates. Do with that informations whatever you will. More specific subset, you’re the eletronics person responsible for meking Ego look cool during his presentations but making all the 3D models and stuff (idea from @/phen0l’s shitposting lol)
Physiotherapist or doctor/nurse. I anticipate a lot of Chigiri here (bc of his knee), but also a lot of working with England and Manshine City because of Chris Prince’s personal philosophy of “perfect body”
Publicity person, who’s hired after much of Ego’s grumbling sometime after the match vs the Japanese U20 team. Taking lots of pictures of the boys, editing, general staring for long hours into incredible handsome faces. Also potential for interactions with Sae? hmmmmm
The classic manager of a sports team. Probably works with Anri, wears a cute uniform, and gets a lot of harem/reverse harem action. A classic for a reason. Nice.
I came up with this one just now: Helicopter pilot! Or some other job that carts supplies in/out of Blue Lock. The boys gather on the roof to cheer you when you land and ask for gossip, snacks, and/or letters from their family.Probably treat you like a lost explorer returning from the Siberian tundra after two years away despite you coming in every week or so lol.
Note: I said helicopter because it looks kinda looks like a helicopter in the background of ch. 152 when they’re returning there. I checked again and in ch. 2, it’s actually just buses... much less dramatic :( but you could definitely still be a helicopter pilot bc Ego’s got a huge budget and probably wants the best stuff, as fast as possible, at any expense. Imagine them all cheering when you land and swarming you with hugs once you hop out, then waving like crazy when you take off Bachira
Related to once of the star players in the Neo Egoist League (I go into a bit more detail about Noel [here]). Would work the same as assistant coach, assistant, etc. Scaled up version of the classic manager. Maybe even Ego as a relative would work?
please please PLEASE add more i wanna hear all your ideas (yes this means you! if you have one! <3 don’t be shy!!!)
#puffin says stuff#blue lock#blue lock imagines#x reader#fanfiction#blue lock x reader#really enjoying these little headcanons/ideas/concepts#theyre so fun to write!
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Visiting the Supernatural shooting locations Part 2
Please find part 1 here.
On our final day, we did Deer Lake and Riverview as the main viewing points.
The thing y'all gotta keep in mind is that there are so many locations, that we drove by countless of them just driving around, so I'm not showing you most of what I saw because I didn't get pictures of it all and also because tumblr wouldn't allow me to post so many photos.
That spot that's highlighted in Riverview? They shot 1x05, 1x10, 1x13, 1x18, 2x01, 2x19, 3x15, 4x06, 4x09, 4x13, 4x16, 5x04, 5x11, 6x10, 6x21, 7x02, 7x03, 7x10, 7x17, 7x21, and 10x09 there.
And that's just one building in Riverview.
It's a beautiful park and we got really lucky with the weather and it only poured rain for half of one day. Even with the bright light, it felt very creepy and I can only imagine how it would look and feel with fog or on a cloudy day.
There were a lot of signs warning people not to enter the building or stay on the premises after dark.
A lot of the finale was filmed around Deer Lake. Unfortunately, the Burnaby Village Museum was closed because apparently it's only open to the public in the summer. We weren't able to visit there, but we were able to visit several other filming sites.
One of the things I noticed is that often episodes are filmed in clumps. For example, Regarding Dean was filmed in a few locations, but they grouped together the filming at the various locations to make it easier to film. The restaurant they went to was the Denny's near the motel they went to.
At this Deer Lake location, they filmed multiple scenes from the finale Sam playing catch with son, Dean's funeral pyre, the tree scene, the house the vamps broke into, Sam going for a run, and the pie scene, plus scenes from other episodes.
We found the tree where Baby was parked
which was in a slightly different location than the map said, but close enough that we found it easily.
This place looked so different
But we're at a different time of the year and we're visiting 14 years later, so it's probably due to that.
One thing that I forgot to mention on the earlier post is that while Bobby's house is gone, the junkyard is still standing and an active business.
We had read online that the owner is very friendly, but it felt kinda awkward going in there and taking photos while people are hard at work. There's a giant dog that barks at you when you walk in.
One place I wanted to visit, but didn't get to was the Spur 4 Bridge where the finale ended.
There's a few shooting locations up there including the spot where Sam and Dean split up in 5.02 and the purgatory scenes in s15, but the Spur 4 Bridge is a hike since it's on a private road. Most people access it through the Fisherman's Trail
Although it's rated as easy here, someone who hiked it recently said that due to a rockslide, bring boots. You can also bike around it.
Since it was such a long hike, I decided to save it for next visit, when I'll plan a whole day around it. I also want to visit the place where they defeat Chuck, which is up in Minaty Bay and visit the area south of Richmond where they filmed Mystery Spot and several BM scenes.
As for getting around in general, the city of Vancouver is very bikeable and there's different bike rental options available. I don't know about transporting them between locations, but you can do this section by bike easy
We had a car, which enabled us to travel to a wide variety of sites and visit locations such as the Lulu Trestle (1x07, 3x07, 4x03, 4x13, 9x14, 12x22, 15x18).
Now you can get to the Trestle by public transportation, but it'll take you an hour from Burnaby Village Museum by bus versus a 16 minute drive. If you don't have access to a car, I'd focus my visit on the cities.
At one point, we split up and I took the Sky Train from Burnaby to Westminster and it was very safe and easy. I also took a few buses to get to and from various locations. Vancouver was, in my experience, a very clean, safe city, with lots of public restrooms. Just don't continue going east of Gastown. There may be other parts that are unsafe, so if you are unsure, send me a PM and I can tell you exactly where we went.
I also recommend Salmon n'Bannock, which is an Indigenous restaurant that had some of the best food I've ever had.
Hope this helps! It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend that you visit. I'd pick out your favorite places before you arrive because there's so many places and it can get overwhelming looking at the map!
#supernatural#spn#spnfamily#sam winchester#jared padalecki#dean winchester#jensen ackles#spn family#castiel#misha collins#vancouver#spn locations#locations
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My Sweet Enkeli: Chapter 3
"Enkeli": finnish word for "angel".
When Noah Sebastian met Nori Nurmi for the first time, he knew he wanted her more than anything. She was beautiful like an angel and dangerous like the devil.
♡ Author's note: Some smut for you naughty people because that's what we like! Please let me know your opinions, I would love to know your thoughts 🖤 if you are enjoying this fanfic please reblog so more people can read it. CHAPTER 2 HERE.
♡ Warnings: This is a work involving real people but it's 100% fiction written. Please remember that this is only for fun purposes and it doesn't reflect their real thoughts and behaviors. Don't take this work too seriously. +18 only. Smut, Female masturbation, oral sex, penetration, unprotected sex (please always use condoms!!!!)
♡ Characters: Noah Sebastian × Nori Nurmi (OFC).
♡ Words: 3.244
♡ MASTERLIST HERE.
Since the cities started to get far away from each other, the buses were changed to flights and hotel rooms. The tour is going well, everyone is having a blast, except for Nori. The moments where she is on the stage become more important to her than she ever expected because it helps her to forget the war that is going on inside her head.
Noah barely doesn't talk to her anymore. It's not that he is mad at her, he couldn't be. He is just trying his best to give her the peace she asked for. He doesn't watch her shows anymore, it's only "good morning" and "good evening" between them, nothing more.
Nori didn't know that it would be so painful to deal with Noah's absence. While her rational side is relieved that Noah is doing what she almost begged him for, her heart is showing that she misses having him around watching her close with those enchanting brown eyes. It's like they changed places: now she is the one always trying to be near him, watching him up on the stage and thinking how good it would be to lose herself completely for him.
It's late at night and everyone is sleeping or chilling in their rooms but Nori got locked out by her roommate Lara. It seems that the blonde one decided to have some fun with someone in their room and needed some privacy. It's not the first time that this happens while the band is on tour so it's not a big deal. Actually, Nori it's having some trouble sleeping. Her mind is too busy thinking about Noah Sebastian. He is all that comes to her mind when she lays her head on the pillow and closes her eyes. While trying to relax near the indoor pool in the hotel, she feels lonely. She could bother her other bandmates and sneak into their rooms but she doesn't want to; they are not the company she needs.
The phone buzz makes her come down to reality for a little bit. The bands and crew created a message group so they can share photos and anything about the tour.
Noah: Does anyone know where Jolly is?
Noah: Anyone in the mood to watch Tokyo Ghoul with me? I'm lonely 😭
Matt: Go to sleep.
Nori giggles at the messages. Seems like Jolly is the one who is there with Lara in their room and Noah doesn't have any idea that his bandmate got lucky tonight. As an irony of destiny, both of the singers are feeling alone tonight. This would be the perfect reason for Nori to knock on his door and stay with him - even though it would be to watch Tokyo Ghoul or whatever.
Nori: Jolly is safe, don't worry about him.
Noah: Good to know.
Noah is being distant even by messages, which makes Nori wonder if she made the right choice by asking him to stay away from her. She shakes her head, trying to avoid the intrusive thoughts. Of course it was the best thing to do! She is a pretty skeptical person but right now she wishes the universe could send her a sign that she should do what her heart wants and knock on that damn door. It is controversial on her part and she knows that.
Laying on the bed, Noah tries to focus on the anime that goes on the TV. It's been hard for him to stay away from the girl he is obsessed with. His body craves to be next to her, feeling her presence near him, her energy that lights every room she steps in like a ray of sun. But he needs to respect her decision to stay away from him and he is doing his best. The last thing he wants to do is to hurt her.
A knock on the door makes him a little happier. Noah really needs some company tonight, someone who he could talk with and maybe tell what's happening between him and the Finnish singer. Nicholas, his long-time best friend, didn't answer his messages so it's probably Jolly, but it doesn't make sense because he got his door keycard so wouldn't need to knock. As he opens the door, the room gets illuminated by the sun goddess herself.
"Heard you needed a buddy to watch Tokyo Ghoul" she says, a shy smile on her face.
Nori doesn't know where she took the courage from to knock on Noah's door, she just decided to do it. It's like her body started to make the decisions for her instead of her brain. Her legs just took her there without too much thinking.
"You are the last person I expected to knock on my door late at night" he answers, trying to look as chill as possible.
"May I come in?".
"Sure".
The room is not as messy as Nori thought it would be; not all boys are messy after all. There's two single beds next to each other, just like in the room she was supposed to share with Lara. The curtains are closed and there's only the light from the tv screen illuminating the place.
"You said something about Jolly" Noah tries to start a conversation.
"Yeah. He is in my room. With Lara".
"He could at least answer my messages".
"I don't think so… he sure is very busy" she smirks.
"Oh… No way!" Noah giggles.
"Yes way! Lara stole my keycard and locked me out to have some privacy with your guitar player".
"That was a smart move".
"Indeed".
"So… make yourself comfortable, I guess there's a free bed for you".
"Thanks" She tries to get comfortable in bed but it's hard when your heart is beating so fast that it's about to explode inside your chest.
Even though Tokyo Ghoul it's his favorite anime, Noah can't pay attention to the tv anymore. His eyes keep wandering to Nori while she tries to understand what's going on in the anime. The way the screen lights flashes on her face while her eyes are glued on the tv makes him open a smile. Soon, Nori notices the happiness on his face.
"What?" She asks, blushing a little.
"It's nice to have you here".
"It's nice to be here. You've been barely talking to me these days".
"You asked for it".
"I never said I didn't want to be your friend at all".
"It's really hard for me to be next to you just as a friend and nothing more".
Nori sees truth in Noah's eyes and it makes her heart ache to know that he feels this way about her. She doesn't want to make him suffer at all, just the thought of that makes her eyes water. But she understands what he is saying; she feels the same way. Her body also craves to be with him, to feel his touch all over her skin, to kiss his gorgeous lips until she's out of breath.
"It's not easy for me either, believe me" she says, her voice weak. She never spoke the truth about her feelings with Noah.
"I don't want to make you mad, I swear. I just don't like to see you being so hard on yourself. Life is made of choices, some are bad and some are really good ones. The only way to find out is to make a fucking choice".
"I just don't want to make the same mistakes again".
"What do you mean?".
She sighs as she starts to remember when she was touring around Finland with her friends from Blind Channel, a Finnish band that became very popular in the last few years.
"I've been there before. You're not the first rockstar that tries to seduce me" she says, not wanting to give more details.
"I'm sure about that. I mean, you're perfect. It would be weird if not every man in the world falls for you".
"But I let myself fall, too. And it was the worst thing I could do".
Noah can see that there's sadness in her eyes. The way she anxiously plays with the sheets while she tries to get her focus on the TV again; he touched a delicate part of her.
"I understand and respect you if you don't want to talk about this. But I want you to know that you can trust me if you need to open yourself" his voice is soft and warm as he tries to make herself comfortable around him.
"Thank you. I really appreciate that".
"I just want you to know that I don't want to hurt you and it would kill me if I do".
Tears start to roll in Nori's face even though she tries to hold them with all her strength. She hates to look vulnerable around people, it looks like she can't control her feelings; she can't show weakness. Noah sits besides her on the small bed, his thumb trying to wipe the tear on her cheek. Feeling him touching her with so much care makes her body melt. The way he looks at her, so worried while he wishes he could protect her from everything bad that could harm her. There's a huge need inside of Nori that makes her want to kiss him, let him take her in his arms forever. She needs him more than she ever expected.
"Kiss me" the words come from her mouth like a supplication "Make me yours".
Noah's lips crash on hers intensely, he can't believe that she is finally opening herself for him. He doesn't know where to start, where to touch first. His hands desperately hold her face while she pulls his neck to bring him closer. His body makes its way to her side, getting slowly on top of her while her legs open for him to fit himself between them. She desperately takes his white shirt as he only breaks the kiss to toss the garment off. He grabs one of her thighs, digging his fingers on her skin as his lips wanders on her neck, the scent of roses mixed with some kind of spice entering through his nostrils and making his blood boil inside his veins.
The touch of Noah's big hand entering under her oversized shirt and going straight to her breasts makes Nori shiver from head to toe. He gasps as he notices that she isn't wearing any bra, smirking while he feels how big her boobs are. She leans over so she can take her shirt off, feeling his warm breath going down her chest. He holds her nipple with his teeth, carefully biting it as she giggles, her hand gripping his hair when he goes down straight to her lower belly.
His fingers quickly pull the hem of her sporty shorts, taking it off while his eyes admire the beautiful view of her body. His eyes shine like two beautiful diamonds when he sees the wet mess that waits for him. Noah buries his face between her legs with such a hurry, anxious to feel the taste of her arousal. Nori desperately takes her underwear off, tossing it around somewhere, urging to feel Noah eating her up.
"Make me cum just like you did that day" she begs.
The fire inside Nori's body gets out of control when Noah's tongue touches her right where she wanted the most. Her back arches as he savor her, her hips rocking against his warm and soft tongue. His lips sucking her clit intensely, making her feel so sensitive that she starts to moan like no one could listen. It sounds like music to his ears and it works like fuel to his engines. His forefinger easily enters her soaking wet pussy, hooking inside of her so he can find her sweet spot.
"You like it when I fuck you with my finger, don't you?" He asks with a muffled voice.
"I want more. Another one".
Noah opens a crooked smile while he puts his middle finger inside, now two fingers working on Nori's core just like she asked for. The ecstasy starts to fulfill her, making her come right into Noah's mouth as he swipes his nose around her just to feel how good she smells.
"You're being so good coming on my mouth, angel. It tastes so good" he says.
Nori likes to know that Noah is a dirty talker. She gives him a fever kiss as she pushes him on the bed, pinning him against the mattress. Her legs straddle around him as her hips grind against his crotch, her folds making the fabric of his sweatpants wet. Noah's big hands are now squeezing her butt real thigh. It's so big that he can barely hold her buttcheeks entirely. She leans over to kiss him again, still feeling the taste of her arousal in his mouth.
"Should I suck your cock now? Do you deserve it to have yourself inside my mouth?" She teases him, her voice smooth against his ear.
"I already made you cum twice, I think I deserve it".
He is almost going insane with her pussy frictioning against his crotch. Noah is so hard that he is about to explode inside his pants if he doesn't take everything off now. He is desperate to get rid of the last pieces of clothes that are holding him.
"You seem anxious, huh?" Nori smirks. Her hand goes straight to his cock as her eyes analize what she has in front of her.
It's beautiful. It's long and not too thick, perfect to fit inside her mouth without making her cheeks burn and her jaw hurt. She can feel It throbbing on her hand as she strokes him, his hips slowly moving to help the motion.
Nori giggles as she sees how torturing it is for Noah to watch her getting closer too slowly. She licks the tip of his head but just a little bit just to make him suffer some more. It's a revenge for what he made her feel, how he tortured her inside the bus a few weeks ago.
"I bet you thought about me sucking you all those times while you were watching me on stage" she says, a crooked smile on her face.
"I did, one hundred times. I love to think about my dick fucking your pretty mouth, ruining your red lipstick".
Seems that Noah is also good at teasing. Hearing those words it's enough for her. She goes down and puts all she can inside her mouth, going up and down as her hand strokes the shaft. She can hear him grunning and cursing while her mouth works on him, her soft lips brushing against his length. Noah sees that she is really good at this since she can take a lot without choking. He moves his hips furter to make his cock go deeper inside her throat, her tongue making circular moves around his head and then going down to his shaft again.
"Yeah, take this cock in your throat" he murmurs.
Nori feels proud of herself, she knows that she can make any guy go insane with her gifted mouth - she just needs to feel that this person is worth it.
"Fuck… I'm gonna cum. Come here, angel. Let me fuck your pretty pussy" he says, his chest going up and down as he tries to breathe normally.
She is straddling him again, Noah trying to be careful as he slowly enters her pussy with the tip of his cock, but Nori it's impatient. She holds his length and fits it perfectly on her entrance, taking everything inside until she feels her folds touching his crotch.
"Now you are the one who's anxious" he teases her.
"Look what you did, Noah Sebastian. You teased me hard and now you have to face the consequences".
There's a smirk on his face while Nori starts to ride him, going slow at first just to feel every inch of his cock touching the deepest part of her. Noah can't hold himself as he moves his hips further, shoving his cock even deeper that makes Nori hold a scream of pleasure. The noise of their skins lapping against each other turns her on so much that she digs her nails into Noah's tattooed chest, leaving marks all over. He woke up the beast inside of her, something so dirty and unholy that no priest could exorcize. The pace of her hips rolling on his cock gets faster, the moans uncontrollably coming from her mouth as she feels the orgasm building inside of her.
"Holy shit, Noah" she gruns.
"Your pussy feels so good, angel. You're so tight".
She definitely loves to be called an angel - more like a fallen one. The sweat starts to drop on from her forehead, the heath inside her belly announcing that she is so close to her apex, his cock getting soggy and milky.
"Please, come for me one more time" he begs her, holding himself on his elbows as he leans forward to kiss her.
"Fuck me harder, then".
Noah quickly rolls over, making Nori lay on her back. He penetrates her again and starts to pound her as fast as he can, so fast and strong that he could break her in half. She pulls him even closer, her legs wrapped around his back as he sucks her lower lip, her breath hitting against his chin while she lets out a loud moan. She likes it rough just like that. Noah finally hits her sweet spot, making her reach an intense orgasm that makes her legs shake uncontrollably, her walls clenching around him so much that he can feel its pressure on his dick. It's been so long since she felt like this for the last time.
"Fuck yes…" he gruns.
The pace doesn't slow down as Noah gets closer to his own release. Nori is loving to hear him moaning right next to her ear, it's so sexy that she could cum one more time just by hearing it.
"Fill me, baby. I need you to come inside my pussy" her voice sounds weak, almost like whispering.
"Jesus christ, Nori".
With a few deep and slow thrusts, Noah releases his load inside her core. He stays inside of her for a few seconds before pulling it off. Nori quickly gets on her hands and knees, prancing her ass up so Noah can watch his cum running down from her pussy, so deliciously warm on her folds.
"That's a pretty work of art" he says, a coy smile on his face while he is still panting "You're so pretty" his finger wandering through her smeared folds.
He leaves a loud smack on her buttcheek before Nori lays on her back again, giggling at the smooth pain. The bed is small but it's enough to fit both of them if they tuck together, the sheets are a completely wet mess. She lays her head on his chest, hearing his heart beating. It is still fast, which makes her smile.
"I think I need a bath" she says.
"Me, too" he smiles "But before we enjoy that nice bathtub, I want to feel you here with me".
"Being romantic at this point?".
"That's in my nature, I can't fight it".
"I'm not complaining at all" she makes a small pause "It's good to be in your arms".
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Stranded
Good evening all,
I while ago I posted a snippet of a fic I was planning.
The idea came to me after watching a Netflix mini series called Jules storm (A Christmas storm) in English. in the series a group of people get stranded at Oslo airport after a bad snow storm.
For this floc I took inspiration from two characters in the series. I was watching it and realised it was a perfect Rowaelin.
Rowan is the grumpy pilot and Aelin is the one keeping him company.
They start as reluctant stranded passengers, until they realise the other is not too bad.
CW: it’s meant to be fluff but it has a smidge of angst and also mention of miscarriage.
I wrote a part 2 already and... if you want I might work on a further part 3 if anyone is interested.
The storm had been raging all through the night. An event that in Doranelle had been labelled as extraordinary.
All morning all Aelin heard on the tv was the news of the incredible snowstorm that had hit the land. People in Wendlyn were not prepared or used to it. It was very likely that some of them had never seen snow in all of their existences. She, on the other hand, was Terrasen born and bred and learned to walk in heavy snow since she took her first steps.
And it was because of that snow that now she was walking to the subway station instead of taking a taxi to the airport. She was going home. For good. She was closing a chapter of her life that had left her depressed, hollow and with a divorce at the age of 28.
It had been three months since that horrible morning when she woke up in blood soaked sheets and the scary realisation that there was something wrong with her pregnancy. Her husband was not at home so she had called an ambulance and was rushed to the hospital while the dreadful realisation spread in her. It was not long after that the doctor had confirmed that she had lost her baby girl.
She felt broken and hollow and alone. Her husband Chaol had showed up in the evening and while she grieved he just stood and offered little comfort.
Aelin shut down and pushed the world away while Chaol was never at home. Until one day the truth. He had been cheating on her with his secretary.
As soon as she was able to face the world again, Aelin grabbed her resolve to get out of bed and get an appointment with a divorce lawyer. A week later she strolled in his office and served him the papers. On that same day she had bought a ticket home to Terrasen and called her parents with the good news. Rhoe and Evalin had been delighted. She needed healing and felt that with her parents was the place where to start. She knew her mother had suffered with pregnancies too and she was positive she’d be the best support she could have.
Aelin tucked those thoughts away and climbed the stairs down to the subway station. Luckily Doranelle had a direct line from the city centre to the airport. She doubted that buses would be able to cope in those road conditions. She had missed the snow, the cottoned silence, the smell.
The subway was packed and arrived at destination a good thirty minutes later.
As soon as she stepped in the airport compound she felt a pang of joy. She was going home.
But the weather had other plans for her.
*
Rowan stopped at the big airport windows and looked at the runaways covered in deep snow. The vehicles could not clean the tarmac quickly enough, that a new layer of snow was already down again. He sighed. He had taken a flight in that very same early morning from Antica and it had been a shitty approach. He had almost asked ATC to abort the landing, but then managed to take the plane safely down without too much drama. Rowan was about to leave the crew offices when his phone rang.
“Hey.”
Rowan listened to the voice on the other side.
“ATC closed it. Good.”
His brows furrowed at the next pause “What do you mean you want to keep me on standby? Nothing is fucking moving. Doranelle is not equipped to deal with this, it will take days.”
With his right hand he pinched the bridge of his nose in pure exasperation “Fine. You owe me one. I will go and be lazy in the First class lounge.”
He closed the call and stared for a few more minutes at the airport operations grinding to a halt. The storm had even grown in intensity and the visibility was now close to zero.
He adjusted his uniform, grabbed his suitcase and walked to the lounge. Well, at least he had a big book that should last him for a while.
*
Aelin was still in front of the huge departure board. All flights were cancelled. The recorded voice over the tannoy kept repeating that due to extreme whether all flights will be heavily affected, please contact the airline desk. She texted her parents to let them know that she was stuck in Doranelle due to the storm. Her father replied to stay safe and that they were looking forward to have her back.
She went to check-in anyway and got rid of her heavy luggage and the assistant told her that for now the airport was closed, but she was on the list for the next available.
With a sigh she grabbed her backpack and stuffed her jacket under her arm and slowly walked to the customer service area as recommended and prepared herself for a very long wait on the airport’s chairs and numerous bored walks around the terminal.
*
Rowan made it to the lounge and greeted the assistants whom he knew already since he and the other pilots were regulars there when on stand down in between flights.
“Hey Ro, stuck here?”
The woman was called Lyria and according to all of his colleagues she had a thing for him.
“Yeah, looks like we are in for a long one.” He scanned his staff badge and the barriers opened for him.
The room was packed and it looked like a lot of other people had the same idea. He finally spotted an empty table and with his long legs strode there and crashed on the comfy seats with a heavy sigh. From his suitcase he pulled out his book and went to the buffet to grab some orange juice and food. He was technically still on duty so strictly no alcohol. A shame. A beer would be a dream right now.
Once back he deposited his bounty on the table and cracked open the book.
*
It took Aelin a good ten minutes to find the customer service desk. She was busy talking with the assistant when a tall blonde woman dropped her bag quite abruptly on the counter and pushed her aside.
“Put me on the next flight to Rifthold.”
“I am sorry ma’am, but the airport is closed and no one is going anywhere.”
The blonde woman took out her purse “I can pay, I have all the cards. Tell me a price and I will pay.”
Aelin stared at the customer assistant take a deep breath “I am sorry, but the weather does not take cards.”
The obnoxious woman grunted in annoyance “You must be one of those foreigners who stays here and don’t bother to learn the language, because you are not understanding me,” she slammed all the credit cards on the desk “Give me a ticket to Rifthold.”
The petite woman behind the desk pushed the cards away “I am sorry to disappoint you but I was born and bred in Doranelle and I can understand you perfectly.” Aelin noticed that her Wendlyn accent had become more pronounced almost as if on purpose “As I said, unless you have a direct line with the gods who control the weather, you are stuck like every other soul.”
The blonde woman took her cards back and stormed away.
“I am sorry, miss.”
Aelin shook her head and walked back to the counter “Don’t worry, you have held yourself very well. And nice touch on making your accent clear. That shut her up.”
The woman smiled “speaking of accents, you are not from here.”
Aelin gave her a timid smile “No, I am from Terrasen. Loved it here but it’s time to get home.”
The assistant started tapping on her computer “I should not really do this, but this is a shitty situation and I don’t care. Better you than her.” She passed a new ticket to Aelin “You are now upgraded to first class on your next flight which means you can enjoy the lounge. There’s food and it’s cozy.”
Aelin was speechless and almost hugged the woman “I…” words failed her “Thank you so very much. I hope the next customers will be much nicer to you. Than you, thank you.” She held the ticket closer to her heart and grabbed her stuff.
She could not believe it.
Aelin was excited at going into the first class lounge. She always travelled economy and had no idea what lay behind those doors.
At the entrance she saw barriers and stopped, unaware of what to do.
“Scan the boarding pass,” said the brunette at the desk.
Aelin followed the instructions and the automatic gates opened and took a step inside.
*
Rowan had grabbed his headphones and was now relaxing in peace while snacking on hummus, pitta bread and other foods offered in the lounge. He was stuck and was definitely making the most of the situation.
He was soo engrossed in his book that he did not notice the woman standing at his table and apparently talking to him.
*
Aelin stepped inside the lounge and was amazed. It was buzzing and at the centre there was a massive buffet table with what she discovered was free food. Technically complimentary, those people paid a first class fare, she didn’t and for an instant she felt like an intruder.
Without passing as too eager, she grabbed a tray and filled it with a few small dishes, then got a cup of coffee with a crazy amount of sugar as she liked it and started looking for a table.
The lounge was choc-a-block and there were no seats left. Getting into the first class lounge and then not finding a seat seemed like a cosmic joke. She wandered a bit until in a corner she spotted a man with silver hair occupying a four seats table all by himself. The nerve. She noticed his uniform and that he was a pilot. Aelin took a deep breath and marched to him.
“Do you mind if I sit?”
Fine, he had headphones and was reading.
Aelin waved her hand “Hey?”
Pine green eyes stared at her. The most stunning green eyes she had ever seen. And a face that promised murder.
“What?” He growled as he pulled down the headphones.
“Can I sit? The lounge is very full.”
The man in front of her exhaled a deep annoyed breath and pulled down his legs from the chairs on the other side and went back listening to the music, reading and ignoring her.
*
Why? Wondered Rowan as the stranger sat opposite from him. Why some people thought it was acceptable to occupy a table that is already taken? The lounge was full. She could just go back to the terminal like all of the other passengers. He was a pilot and needed his down time.
Sneakily, he looked at her and she definitely did not belong there. She was probably flying first class on mum and dad’s money. Oh yes, she was the classic naive rich brat who goes around the world and never has worked a day in her life. The man in him though, could not fail to notice that she was stunning. Her hair was almost as gold and the eyes. They were piercing blue, with a ring of gold in them. Yes, she was annoying but he could not deny the facts. She was probably the most stunning woman he had ever seen.
Rowan was busy secretly staring at her that he did not notice that the woman was talking. To him apparently. Hellas, fate had given him a chatty table partner.
“What?” Another growl.
“Is that Wendlyn airlines colours? Are you a pilot? You must be, you have the wings and the cuff-rings. Were you due to fly today?”
Rowan wondered how to murder her and how to make it look like an accident. He placed the book down, careful not to lose his spot and stared at her “Yes, princess. I am a pilot and now I am stuck here, trying to relax and I have this annoying woman ruining my day.”
Aelin glared at him “Mala save me, you are grumpy.”
In irritation, he straightened his back “I am grumpy? I landed this morning and I was due to finish. But then my boss asked me to be on standby because as soon as this hellish snowstorm is over I will have to fly out any poor irritating soul that has been stuck in this damned place.”
He was hoping that shut her up but the woman instead smiled at him “But you are taking these people home or on holiday or to work. You are helping them achieving their goal. And if they are going back home to their families, it’s a happy ending.”
Rowan’s mouth fell open in disbelief. Who was this woman? “I don’t care who these people are. For me they are a number on my manifest that I am safely carrying from A to B.”
“That’s a very cold way to see it.”
“I am sorry princess if I burst your bubble,” his tone now harsh “Next time fly with Unicorn airlines and the captain will vomit rainbows once you land.”
Aelin grabbed her coffee and tried to ignore the comments.
“You better be a good pilot, because you are a shitty human being.” Aelin stood and stormed out of the lounge and found a quiet spot in a corner of the airport. She sat down and let the tears flow. She was so tired and felt lost. Her life had been put on hold. She had a plan a goal but then all came crashing down and in the past few months she had just existed. Aelin sniffled hard. That arsehole. As if a pretty uniform allowed him to treat people like garbage. She had been trying to find positivity in the small things to cope after her post miscarriage depression. Maybe she seemed naive to strangers but it had become her coping mechanism not to plunge in the abysm of desperation once again.
She sat in silence and let the tears flow until she was spent, then grabbed her stuff and started walking. Her experience in the first class lounge had been brief and ruined by the worst pilot in Wendlyn airlines.
Knowing that she had possibly many more hours ahead Aelin started walking back and forth in the terminal, noticing all the people who, just like her, were trying to pass the time.
Her feet took her again at the end of the terminal where all the lounges were. The first class had a window on the runaways and another right on the terminal. She looked up and noticed the table she had occupied before. What she was not expecting was the silver haired pilot staring at her from the big window.
*
Rowan had felt bad. Yes, she was a bit naive but he had been downright rude. Maybe he really had to start to keep his grumpiness at bay. He could not remove from his mind her dejected stare at his words. He had hurt her. Of that he had no doubt. He stood and went to window to stare at all the passengers walking around the terminal and thought about her words. Those people were not just a number on a manifest. He could see their smiles at the prospect of going on holiday or home, businessmen and women itching to get off to run to their meeting. The woman was right, there were stories behind those faces. But his job was to fly them safely to their destination and to keep his cool in a crisis. Having some sort of detachment made his life easier.
His eyes scanned the busy terminal until he spotted a mane of golden hair that attracted his attention. The woman stopped and looked up. Blue eyes stared right into his soul and in that instant his right hand took a life on its own and rose waving lightly in her direction.
He saw her eyes widen at the surprise and waved back, but no smile reached her eyes. A second later he was gesturing like a madman for her to come up.
Once she moved he ran to the bar and asked something to the bartender and once ready took it to the table and then walked to the entrance of the lounge and waited for her.
Behind him he could feel Lyria’s stare but he ignored her.
The woman arrived a few minutes later and scanned her boarding card to go back in.
Rowan pointed to the table and she followed.
“A peace offering,” he indicated the warm drink on the table “the bartender assured me it’s sugary and sweet.”
Aelin looked at the drink in front of her. It was a hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows and sprinkles of various colours and a few chocolate sticks popping out.
“That’s a drink you’d get on Unicorn airlines.”
Aelin chuckled lightly “I am Aelin by the way.”
“Captain arsehole, a.k.a Rowan.”
She took a sip of the drink and it was sweet just how she loved it and noticed he only had a black coffee “no hot chocolate for you?”
He waved his hand in a dismissive motion “nah, I will leave eating unicorn stuff to you.”
The smile he gave her was very faint and Aelin wondered how he’d look with a full smile.
“So, why the peace offering?”
He played with some of the olives on a small plate “I had no right to talk to you that way.”
Aelin took a sip as an excuse to gather her thoughts “I am not a princess, or a spoiled brat travelling with her parent’s money.”
A sharp air intake left Rowan’s lips.
“Yes, you had the face. You judged me as soon as I sat down and assumed that I was all of the above.”
He stared at her and once again he noticed that veil of sadness in her. He wanted to see her smile and lit up the room.
“Bad habit,” he chuckled “You know when you get off the plane and sometimes you have the captain there too telling you good bye?” He explained hoping to light the mood “Once the plane is empty, the crew and I love to comment on some of the passengers. Nothing cruel, sometimes is to destress after a long haul flight and have a laugh.”
Aelin gave him a weak smile “anything weird?”
“Once we were flying to Melisandre and one of my crew told me that this couple had their blankets all over them. They kept an eye on them, refused in-flight meals and then half way through the flight they got to the toilet one at a time. When they disembarked they were tomato red in their faces.”
Aelin burst out laughing “Holy shit, no.”
Rowan nodded solemnly “We have a feeling they went for another type of in flight entertainment.”
“Fuck, people can be so disgusting.”
“It was a good thing it was the last flight of the day. We managed to sanitise the seats heavily.”
Aelin munched on a chocolate stick “So, is being a pilot as trendy as it seems?”
Rowan went silent. He loved flying. He did a few years in the airforce and when he left he got easily a job as commercial pilot. He already had the training and a lot of flying hours. It had been an easy transition and less traumatic. But no, definitely it lacked all the romanticised aspects “It’s a job. I love flying.”
“But you can visit so many places.”
He snorted “On a short layover I have little time. If I fly domestic routes in Wendlyn it’s very much a back and forth.” He explained, playing with his spoon “Today I should have come off the Antica flight and got home and come back tomorrow to fly out to Melisandre.”
Aelin was silent.
“I don’t get to see much of the lands I visit. I put the plane down, there’s a lot of stuff to do, then I will probably have to go through customs, although crew has priority, and most of the time I go back to the hotel, eat and sleep.”
“That sucks,” she stuffed a marshmallow in her mouth “I love airports, the buzz and the excitement of a trip.”
Rowan rolled his eyes “you have seen one, you seen them all.”
Aelin shrugged and Rowan studied her reaction “How can you always be so positive?”
He stared at her face grow dark all of a sudden while staring outside the big window.
“To cope,” she said very, very quietly.
Rowan did not miss the pain in her voice. His hand slowly moved to hers and covered it gently. When he hard her sniffle he realised there was something hurting her. And for some reason, he felt the urge to comfort this stranger who had sat down at his table on a shitty day.
“Aelin…”
She brushed her face quickly and gave him a tired smile “sorry… I am fine.”
He stared at her. She was not fine.
“I know I am the last person to whom you want to bare your soul, but I am not as a bastard as I appear.”
Aelin broke. Heavy sob escaped her and her shoulders shook.
All Rowan could do was to sit at her side and pull her face to his chest and hide her from the crowd.
“Your uniform will get wet.”
“Having beautiful women cry on you is part of the job.” He hoped that the cheesy line lifted her spirits a little.
“I am twenty eight and I am moving back to my parents because my life in Doranelle went to shit,” she sobbed hard “I am divorced and I was useless as a wife.”
Rowan felt the need to hold her tight “I doubt that.”
“While I was bleeding in bed after a miscarriage, my husband was busy fucking his secretary.”
Rowan did not know the man but all of a sudden he felt the need to smash his face.
“I lost our baby and…” her sobs intensified.
“I am so sorry, damn Aelin that… must have hurt.”
“I feel like a failure.”
Rowan pulled back and grabbed her face in his hands “No, I barely know you but you cannot call yourself a failure because you lost a baby and,” he paused “if your ex made you feel so, well it’s a good thing that the bastard is gone.”
“I am sorry…” she apologised “I just dumped all my troubles on you…”
He squeezed her “sometimes it feels nice to vent to a stranger or in our case to another stranded partner.”
That made her chuckle and he relaxed at the sound.
Rowan then stood and offered her a hand “Come.”
Aelin was not sure but then accepted and grabbed her backpack and jacket.
Rowan took her hand and they started walking. She followed him in silence until he stopped in front of the multi faith chapel.
“Come.”
Aelin was puzzled and followed him inside. The room was beautiful with wooden walls and a big window.
“When it’s quite I like to come here and sit. It’s empty and I find it relaxing.”
There were wooden benches along the wall and he sat down, patting the spot at his side.
Aelin sat and closed her eyes. The place was silent and a sense of peace descended on her. She felt Rowan’s shoulder brushed hers and she inhaled his scent. Rowan smelled of pine and snow. He smelled like home.
“I am sorry I cried all over you.”
At her side Rowan sighed “I am sorry for how I treated you. I assumed things…”
“We both said horrible things.”
Rowan chuckled “We can start from scratch again.”
Aelin turned her head to him “Hi, I am Aelin.”
“Hi, I am Rowan.” They shook hands and then they fell back in silence for a moment.
Rowan turned his head to the window and stared at the snow. It was even worse “I don’t think we’ll fly today.”
*
They spent a few hours in the room and talked and Aelin could not believe how easy it was to talk to him. She learned he was born in Doranelle, that he had been in the airforce for a few years and then retired and joined Wendlyn airlines. He had confessed that he was not a fan of sugary stuff and Aelin had almost left him alone in the room. She would admit that he was a pleasant person to be around.
When some people came into the room they left and Rowan gave her a tour of the airport but with a personal touch and from the perspective of someone who was in there multiple times a week.
In the end, they went back to the lounge and Rowan retrieved his suitcase from the bar staff and occupied a table with two comfy sofas at each side “Looks like we managed to find a much better spot,” Aelin smiled and sat down and looked at the window that now gave them a view of the runaway.
Rowan came back a bit later with food for both and a pitcher with orange juice “Hope this is okay.”
“Is the lounge staff staying here all night?”
He nodded “yes, staff for essential shops and lounges have been asked to stay open to help all the stranded passengers.”
Aelin took her food and they had dinner and chatted happily and got to know each other a little more.
*
The following morning Rowan woke up after falling asleep on the sofa. He had a lovely night with Aelin and realised she was nothing like he had pictured her. She was an editor and loved books just as much as him and they had talked for hours about their favourite authors. He had never felt that connected with anyone and it felt amazing. When she fell asleep he made sure to cover her with her coat and then stared at her sleeping. Her face peaceful in her slumber.
He went to grab some coffee and noticed that the sky was a deep blue and the snowstorm had cleared. The ploughs were busy scurrying around the airport and clearing near the hubs and the main runaways. That was a good sign. He took his phone and saw that he had been allocated a flight. It was the 14:00 hrs flight to Orynth. He smiled.
Back at the table Aelin was awake and was brushing the sleep off her eyes “Morning, princess, I bring coffee.” He then smiled “look outside.”
Aelin turned her head and squealed in delight when she noticed the sun and the blue sky.
Rowan had loved that sound and the smile that burst on her face.
“Are we flying?”
“Check your phone.”
Aelin quickly grabbed her mobile and noticed a notification from her airline telling her that she was booked on the 14:00 flight to Orynth.
“Yes, my flight is at 2 p.m.”
Rowan hid his smile behind the cup of coffee.
“What about you?”
“We’ll see.”
*
Aelin and Rowan had exchanged numbers before going separate ways. Somehow she wanted to stay in touch with him. He had promised her to text when he was in Orynth so she could be his guide.
Now she was finally at the gate ready to board her plane. Excitement was bubbling over her. After almost 24 hrs stuck in an airport she was ready to finally go home, but a pang of sadness hit her too. She wished she had more time with Rowan.
Aelin took her seat and was giddy at being in first class. Crew brought her wine and Aelin indulged and treated herself. She heard the voice from the cockpit tell the crew to put the door on manual and cross check.
“Good afternoon, I am Rowan and I will be your captain for this flight to Orynth. We are expecting to push back in about twenty minutes as the ground crew is finishing to load your bags. Flight time is expected to be around three hours. We might encounter some turbulence over the Great Ocean and then it should be a smooth flight as far as Perranth. Current weather in Orynth is snowy, but the guys up there are more equipped than us to deal with a bit of white stuff. Local temperature is -10C which I am told is basically summer.”
Aelin giggled and the rest of the plane did the same. Rowan was taking her home and her heart raced madly.
“Now sit back and relax and let the crew look after you. I will give you updates as the flight progresses.”
“
It was three hours later when they finally landed. The flight had been bumpy, but nothing majorly scary. She had worse.
Aelin waited till everyone was off to stand from her seat. Rowan had popped out from the cockpit and was greeting the disembarking passengers.
She grabbed her belongings and walked towards the crew.
He gave her a smile.
“Thank you for the pleasant flight, captain.”
He winked at her and she exited the aircraft into the tunnel.
*
She was at home unpacking her suitcases when a text reached her.
I will be in Orynth for a few days. I have been given extra layover time since I was not meant to be on duty. I will need a guide. Someone told me there is a great coffee shop in the old part of the town.
Aelin smiled and texted back whoever told you that is a wise person. I need today with my parents. Can we do tomorrow?
I am on my way to my hotel to crash and sleep. I will be rested by then. Text me a time and I will find my way there.
Just be careful in the snow, you Wendlyn people cannot cope with our levels.
I will see you tomorrow, menace.
Aelin squealed in delight and in silence she thanked the weather for stranding her in airport.
TAGS:
@rowaelinismyotp @swankii-art-teacher @whimsicallyreading @elentiyawhitethorn @aelin-bitch-queen @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity @mis-lil-red @thegreyj @sailorsassley @leiawritesstories @clairec79 @morganofthewildfire @sv0430 @heartless--aromantic @autumnbabylon @rowanaelinn @backtobl4ck @susumaus98 @gracie-rosee @mybloodrunsblue @tanvee1231 @avenrebekah @whoever-you-choose-to-love @theywillnotsingforme @universallytreepost @black-daisy-water @goddess-aelin @whispers-in-the-darkest-heart @lovely-dove-zee
#rowaelin fanfiction#rowaelin#rowaelin fanfic#rowaelin au#rowan whitethorn#aelin x rowan#rowan x aelin#aelin galathynius#fluff#angst
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Tojoctober Day 18 - Drink
(Suddenly, a gleam of dawn)
Alt title is from “Shadow of the Lowlands”, a town theme in Xenoblade Chronicles 2
The dragon runs into the dragonfish once again, and tries his best to not give his identity away quite yet.
(Kiwami and LaD spoilers)
—--------------------------
Nighttime has fallen on the sparkling city of Ijincho, rainbow lights from the iconic Ferris wheel flickering in the ocean water. In Survive, a quiet establishment nestled in the corner of the bar district, the two civilian rock stars of the former Tojo Clan sit at two of the stools away from the bar, embroiled in conversation.
“So, what brings you back to Ijincho?”
Kiryu glances at the man sitting right next to him, his expression and appearance as wild as he remembered. What is new about Ichiban Kasuga is a hopeful glint in his eye, one that shines as bright as his future. Kiryu takes a sip of his drink, one that has a nostalgic aftertaste as he mulls over an answer.
“I… well I can’t really say. Remember when Seonhee said stuff about me being a dead man walking?”
“Well, you’re very alive to me.”
“I-yes. More so, the world can't exactly know I’m alive. It’s uh… very complicated. But let’s just say there’s a reason I still haven’t given you my name, Kasuga.”
Kiryu tries his best to glance away from Ichiban. He can’t really look at the bartender, as his face is all too familiar and he doesn’t want to deal with those ramifications on top of everything else. He settles for a long stare at the top shelf of alcohol.
“Well, come on, there has to be something that I can call you. Feels weird just saying ‘big dragon man’ or ‘that one guy who beat the killing instinct out of me’.” Ichiban replies,
“Fair enough,” Kiryu says with a slight chuckle, “I’ll think about it.”
Kiryu gives a once-over of his surroundings. Besides the bartender, who’s busing himself with the dishes, and his companion across from him, the bar was empty.
“Where are all of your friends anyway, Kasuga?”
Ichiban shrugs “If I remember correctly, Zhao and Joon-gi Han are somewhere in the Geomijul hideout, I think I heard Zhao say something about training? Nanba is assisting Saeko and Eri at Ichiban Holdings, and Adachi… where did Adachi go?” Ichiban ponders for a second, before snapping his fingers in realization, “Right! He said he was finally going to confront his old boss! Good on him.”
“Yes, I know that Horinouchi was giving the old one a hard time.”
“Speaking of, you were looking at Joon-gi Han that one time, like you knew him or something?” Ichiban pressed, seemingly desperate for any information about Kiryu. He sighs a bit, knowing that Ichiban’s curiosity will not be easily satiated with half answers.
“Yeah, but it’s like he said. We… seemed to have shared an acquaintance.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
Silence fills the bar, the two men enjoying their respective drinks, before Ichiban exclaims “A story!”
“What?” Kiryu faces the younger man once again, head cocked to one side.
“I’m sure a great dragon such as yourself would have some amazing stories to tell!” Ichiban continues, with wonder swirling in his eyes, his face full of excitement and joy.
Kiryu blinks, and the whole world shifts. He’s no longer in a small bar in a city he’s unfamiliar with. No, he’s in an all too familiar setting, located just out of harm’s way in Kamurocho. His oath brother is beaming at him, probably just from telling some shitty pun about dragons. He feels the presence of others in the room, he can’t tell who, but he formulates a response to his brother, his best friend since they ran into each other at the orphanage. But his brother speaks first.
“Uh, are you alright?”
The voice is familiar, but wait, no, it's not right, and Kiryu blinks again, which is when reality comes crashing in. Survive’s interior fills his peripherals, and Ichiban stares back at him with a very curious yet worried expression. Did he really get that lost in his own memories?
Or was he finally going to consciously admit the obvious? The real reason he went out of his way to help Ichiban out?
“I’m okay. Just a bit distracted, that’s all.”
“You sure? You were looking at me like I was about to disappear.”
Kiryu sighs again. He takes another sip of his drink, desperate to change the subject.
“You wanted a story, right? Here’s a good one.”
Kiryu regales Ichiban in the story of a man he recalls running into in the 80s, a merchant that dealt in mushrooms, and how he had to defend him from a disgruntled hooligan.
“The produce or the narcotic?” Ichiban asks the other man.
“Everyone thought they were narcotics, but as it turned out, it was simply just regular old mushrooms. I remember taking some home that day. Made a pretty decent meal with them, actually.”
“What happened next?” Ichiban was clearly enthralled in the story, and Kiryu smiled a bit, thankful he wasn’t trying to pry into his identity anymore.
“Well, after buying some more mushrooms, and defending him a lot, it turned out he got mixed up with the mafia. Had to knock some sense into those guys, but in the end their boss asked him to go overseas with him and start a restaurant business together.”
“Woah. That’s an unexpected ending.”
“Yeah. But, that’s Kamurocho for you. The serious and the weird, all mixed up in one small pocket of Japan.”
“Can’t you say that about everywhere in Japan?”
Kiryu chuckles again, “I guess you could say that. Ijincho having a similar effect for you? Any wild stories to tell?”
Ichiban's posture straightens with excitement, eyes gleaming. “Yeah! There was this inventor guy who…” Ichiban trails on and on about whatever the hell a Sojimaru is and why he had to fight it ala Dragon Quest style, as Kiryu realizes once again, just how similar Ichiban is to someone else who he still keeps close to his heart.
Would they have liked each other?
Kiryu can only sit, listen, and wonder, and as he’s prompted to tell another story, he decides that maybe, just maybe, Ichiban could keep a secret.
He didn’t want to live in the shadows forever, did he?
#tojoctober#yakuza#ryu go gotoku#rgg#kiryu kazuma#ichiban kasuga#this was a fun one#the fact that ichiban and nishiki share a VA really opens up the possibilities#i just want to know if ichiban reminds kiryu of nishiki#damn it now i wanna play gaiden#what has this brainrot done to me
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Chapter Twenty (Part 2)
I text Claire when I’m on the bus and tell her I can’t make it to the hotel. Her response is immediate.
Why???
I tell her about how Jude invited me to Dublin, and as soon as I hit send my phone starts ringing. I pick it up and she’s immediately talking.
“Did he actually?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my God.”
“I know.”
“So you’re going to Dublin?”
“I’m on the bus now.”
She gasps. “Is there other people going?”
“Yeah of course, it’s hardly going to be just me.”
“Still.” There’s a pause. “He might kiss you again.” She says it like it’s a warning, but I can’t help but conjure up the memory of him pressing me into a trellis wall at the festival, hot breath on my face, and my stomach feels funny.
“Hopefully.”
She laughs. “Hopefully not! You tell him that if he’s going to mess around with your feelings then I’m going to kick his arse. Or I’ll get Shane to do it.”
“Oh, you didn’t tell him about what happened, did you?” I feel my face burning.
“No way! I’ll just tell him to kick his arse and he’ll do it for me, no questions asked. I’ll make him fly to Berlin if I have to.”
I smile. “Whatever.”
“I want updates when you get back.”
“Ditto! I’m sorry I won’t see you before the debs. Be sure to take loads of photos, and tell me if there’s any scandal.”
“Oh I will.” She says. “Although I bet it’ll be a lot of Rock the Boat and the Cha Cha Slide, so more than likely nothing exciting whatsoever.”
“You don’t think Rock the Boat is exciting, no?”
She snorts. “Good luck tonight babes. Remember what I said. Keep him at an arm’s length.”
“I promise.” I say, my fingers crossed in my lap, and I hang up the phone.
I clamber off the bus on George’s Quay and the city is thronged. The traffic is snaking along the river, buses and bicycles all fighting for space on the narrow road, and it’s noisy. There’s this incessant roar of a hundred collective engines idling, people talking, shouting, the hiss of the bus as it opens up the luggage compartment. I feel very tiny. I join a crowd of people waiting for the lights to change to cross over O’Connell bridge, and I’m carried along with the wave of bodies when the light turns green, the pedestrian crossing making that incessant beeping sound. I’m trying my best to look like I know what I’m doing in case someone mistakes me for a tourist and pickpockets me or something, and tell myself I’ll have to get used to this, because when I go to college I’ll be doing this every day.
I queue up for the city bus near the Spire, and I never remember it being so huge. Everything here is huge. People’s faces don’t seem friendly, all hard lines and vacant eyes, that rush-hour stare. Someone shoulders past me as I cling to a yellow handrail on the crowded bus, and doesn’t even turn around to say sorry. I text my mam, letting her know I’m okay, even though I’m not convinced I am.
I get off at Seafield Road, just like Jude told me to, and make my way up the street, looking out for any of the landmarks he mentioned. It’s a big, leafy suburban area lined with big red brick 1930s houses on both sides of the road.
I hang a left off Seafield and head up Vernon Avenue, a string of Georgian terraces that opens out onto the sea. The air is fresh in a way that reminds me of the holiday village, but the seafront in Clontarf has nothing on the one I spent the summer on. It’s built up here, pathways and benches and those outdoor gym machines that nobody ever really uses, it isn’t as unspoiled and beautiful, instead it’s so very urban. I peer over a wall and down into the outdoor area of a trendy restaurant full of trendy people eating al-fresco, their plates adorned with microscopic portions of oysters and scallops and other expensive foods I’ve never tasted. A man with a booming voice says something down his phone about owning properties in Howth and I wonder if my mother really was onto something when she said this area was posh.
I arrive outside Jude’s house. It’s an old Georgian place with lush foliage outside, a brand new car sitting in the driveway. It’s all period details and sash windows, a set of wide stone steps leading up to the front door, which has a classic arched fan light above it. It’s the nicest house on the street by far. It looks like it should be featured in a magazine.
I quickly learn though, that when very cool kids say that a party starts at seven, they apparently don’t mean seven. I’m the first to arrive, and Jude actually looks surprised when he opens the door to me.
“Oh, Evie, Hi.” He says, the heavy-handed plonking sounds of a piano drifting into the hall behind him. ‘I didn’t think you’d come so early, I still have to shower.” Oh God, no. He lets me in anyway. “Come in, my sister is just practising for her piano lessons. They start up again next week but she hasn’t played all summer.” He rolls his eyes. “In case you can’t tell. She sounds shite.” He sounds especially American in this environment, so it’s freaky to hear him use a word like “shite.”
I step into the hallway, high ceilinged with a herringbone wood floor that extends into the back of the house. It’s been built well into the garden, huge windows with glass so clean it’s invisible look out over a patio with all that expensive outdoor furniture that you sit on in the showroom to pretend that you’re the kind of person who could justify paying for something that’s only brought out of the shed for three months a year.
I want to say something like: “I never knew you were so rich” to him, before I decide that it might sound stupid. I just walk on through to the open kitchen and dining area and act like I’m always in giant, converted Georgian houses, and this is all completely uninteresting to me.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” He asks me, and I nod, and then sit there watching him make it, perched on a barstool, the white marble countertops cool under my elbows.
“I’m sorry I’m early.” I say. “I thought it was at seven.”
“No it’s fine, I said seven in the text. I should have been more specific.”
“More specific about…?”
“That seven doesn’t mean seven, it means like, sometime after eight.”
“Oh sorry. I didn’t know there was a cipher now.” He smiles and shakes his head as he tosses a tea bag into a mug, and by now it’s like I can read his mind: He doesn’t think I should apologise for not knowing that, but it doesn’t make me feel any less stupid.
There’s a sudden clacking on the wooden floors and Jude’s mother strides into the room jangling keys. I whip around to look at her. She’s a very young, very beautiful woman with blonde hair in a gamine style. She pauses when she sees me. “Oh hello.”
“Mom this is my friend Evie, Evie this is my mom.” Jude says.
“Hello…. Missus Turner.” I say, because that’s how they address people’s parents on American TV, but it just seems to amuse her. She has the same loping half-smile as her son, and regards me with Jude’s eyes, which is disconcerting. It’s the exact same, sharp, steady gaze that always seems as though it’s cutting through me. “Oh, darling, it’s just Colette.” She insists, and her accent is so posh that it’s almost British. “You’re one of the girls from the Holy Faith school?”
“No, I’m actually not. I’m from Tullamore. In Offaly.”
“Oh Offaly.” She says dully. “Very nice.”
“She’s one of my friends from holidays.” Jude clarifies.
“Oh right yeah, you’re Shane’s sister.”
Jude slides the mug of tea in front of me and I take it immediately, grateful to have something to do with my hands. “No, um. No I’m not.”
“Ah.” She reaches for her handbag from the dining table and rifles through it impatiently. “Jude, have you seen my reading glasses? I can’t find them.”
“Did you check the office?”
“Why would they be there?”
“I’m just asking did you check there.”
They bicker back and forth while I sip sheepishly on my tea. She seems intense, but actually, now that I think about it, sometimes Jude seems intense too. I feel a little wounded that Colette has never heard of me, because it means Jude didn’t bother to mention me. When he told her about his holidays and all the things that happened, I wasn’t in even one of his stories? It’s depressing.
She leaves the room, and I hear her opening a door, the jarring piano music suddenly amplified. “Ivy, get ready please, I want to leave in five minutes.” She shuts it again. Neither Jude nor I say anything until the footsteps have disappeared into the landing upstairs
“They’re going to my Aunt’s house this evening.” He tells me. “They’ll stay until midnight, maybe, and then they’re coming back.”
“Oh right.”
“How’s your tea?”
“It’s lovely, thank you.”
The room feels very large around me, and I feel like I’m Alice. I’ve drunk the potion and I keep shrinking into my environment. The smallest girl alive. Soon I’ll be a microscopic speck on these parquet floors.
“Who’s coming tonight?” I finally say into the long silence, and Jude slumps on the counter, looking very thoughtful. “A few people. Not many you’d know. Actually, except for Jen.”
“What about Kasper and Joe?”
“Everyone got their college offers today, so some people have other plans. They’re too busy to see me off before my big voyage…”
“Oh!” I exclaim. “I never asked about your leaving cert. How were your results?”
“I was happy.” He says with infuriating vagueness.
“Yes okay but what did you get?”
He laughs. “What’s it to you? It doesn’t matter.”
“I want to know, come on, you can’t withhold that.”
“I got enough to secure my place at university.”
“Which is?”
He rolls his eyes. “Five hundred and fifty.”
“Out of six hundred?!”
“Yes of course out of six hundred.” He chuckles. “What else?”
“That’s amazing! Congratulations.” I reach out across the counter and pull him into a hug.
“Thank you.” His cheeks have turned pink. “But if you tell anyone I’ll kill you.”
“Why, so they don’t figure out how much of a nerd you are?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly it.”
His little sister runs into the room and grabs her shoes from the mat beside the patio door. “Hello.” She says to me as she fiddles with the velcro straps.
“Hi.” I say back.
“Ivy, this is my friend Evie.” Jude tells her. “Evie, this is my sister Ivy. The one who was playing the terrible piano.”
“Mean.” She pouts.
“Yes, mean!” I agree. “I think you sounded great.”
“She’s lying.” Jude says, and she darts over to karate chop the air in front of his stomach a dozen times. He puts his hand on top of her head and musses up her long, fawn coloured hair . “If you want me to say you’re good then you should have just practised.”
“You should have just practised.” She mocks.
“Do I sound like that?” Jude asks me.
I snicker. “Yeah you do.”
He pokes her in the ribs and she squeals, racing across the room away from him. I sit back and smile to myself as he messes with her. I’m seeing a side to him that I never thought about him having. On his own he’s nearly mythical, this mysterious puzzle to solve, and here in his native environment he seems like an ordinary boy. Someone’s big brother. I imagine him growing up within these four walls, arriving when he wasn’t too much older than Ivy is now. Picturing him as a child is pulling at my heartstrings.
I briefly meet his father too, before they leave for the night; A big American man with a loud voice who also looks altogether far too young to have an eighteen year old son, and he’s firmly uninterested in me. He doesn’t stick around to exchange pleasantries and the three of them leave about one minute after I meet him, which I don’t mind. Jude goes to have a shower after that, and he leaves me alone in the big kitchen, spinning around on the barstool and reading the spines of all the cookbooks on a shelf until he comes back downstairs.
I help him to bring glasses and plates out to the table on the patio, and he starts unloading a shopping bag full of spirits onto the countertop. I nervously ask him if we’re going to be drinking all of that tonight, and he sarcastically replies that yes, we will be, and I personally will have to have at least two of the bottles to myself or he’ll tell everyone I’m a freak. There’s loads of food too. Oven pizzas and chips, chicken goujons, and those indian snacks you get at Marks and Spencers. I put on the oven and shovel everything in while we make idle smalltalk, never once mentioning the festival, the kissing, or the fact that by this time tomorrow, he’ll be gone, because whenever the conversation veers that way, he gets distracted by something else and we wind up changing the subject.
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#sims#sims 4#ts4#simlit#sims 4 story#sims story#writing#romance#fiction#sims 4 storytelling#sims4 storytelling#sims storytelling#lucky girl part 1
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Cycling and E-bikes, my thoughts
I'm a cyclist. I have been for more than half my life.
There are 3 kinds of cyclist. Four motivations.
Three kinds of cyclist ride for Fitness, Competition, and Transportation. The fourth motivation is joy. The joy of riding. The joy of being out on a trail, a seawall, a boardwalk, and riding slow and taking in the sights. Pretty much all cyclists have this, it's often a bigger motivation, but a more nebulous one, not often a reason to be a cyclist, just to ride a bike.
I'm what's referred to as a "super-commuter." I ride my bike almost exclusively from point-A to point-B. And for all of my life I've done it in all weather (snow wind storm what have you) as my sole or primary mode of transport, even when a car or transit is available.
When I hear people complain about E-bikes it's always, "They're too fast, and they don't even pedal." "Back in my day..." type arguments.
E-bikes to me are about accessibility and transport density. (I have a rant about the need for ~35 kph max speed regulations but that's another post).
An e-bike enables basically 1 thing in my mind. It enables folks to ride without exertion. Which, if you ask "Why, isn't that the point of cycling," you've missed the whole point of the bit above."
Joy is universal, if riding's not enjoyed it won't happen. Fitness, Competition, and Transportation are the remaining motivators. Only two of these require exertion, competition and fitness.
E-bikes are not here to make folks fit. E-bikes are here to enable living with less requirement of a car. They enable able-bodied folks to get to work and not need to shower. They enable kids to get around the city without relying on adults (a huge need for a teen that is getting harder and harder). It enables on-demand higher transportation density, about 6 times higher than car, similar to the space effectiveness of full occupancy buses. It enables folks who can't, won't, or aren't comfortable needing a 2-ton death machine. And by proxy, it helps deal with isolation. When you're on a bike, and other folks are on bikes you actually see them. You're no longer in a city of glass and steel boxes, cut off from the world, cut off from experience.
I've never seen a cyclists road rage against each other, enough to stop. I've only seen motorists in their little prison boxes get so incised and heated in their little oven box that they come out steaming.
We need the infrastructure though. Gutter lanes don't cut it. If bikes are going to become a favored mode of transport in a city, a town, they need dedicated infrastructure. Else it's never going to go above 10%. Even Vancouver where I've spent the last 10 years barely hits 6% ridership, #10 most cycling friendly city in NA. Almost all it's infrastructure is share lanes, though the increase of bike-ways and 1-way car 2-way cycling funnels towards major thoroughfares has been making it a lot better.
#cycling#rant#my thoughts#e-bikes#i love e-bikes#I'm not going to buy one for another 20 years though#cuz i ride for transportation first and then fitness
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