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stella-monstrum · 3 years

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Bride Of Chucky (1998), Rated R [A beginners crash course]

WARNING: This article contains clips and photos that I do not own and are simply including to watch along with this article. NSFW CONTENT AND POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD)

(Written by Stella, edited by Jacob J.)

In the era of “semi charmed” living, the birth of Viagra, & heartthrob Leo, 1998 was also a time for some unique box office horror films.

For my first post, I want to really dive into the Don Mancini Chucky franchise. I have a history and (albeit irrational) fear of the twisted “Good Guy,” but dammit—I figured it wouldn’t really hurt to give Bride of Chucky a view for the first time.

To be fair, I did go into this without watching Child’s Play at all. If you, like me, are new to horror, let’s be honest—skipping it completely wouldn’t hurt. Let’s start by talking about the cast, shall we?

We’re joined once again by Brad Douriff (as notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray—AKA Chucky), this time with a new slate of co-stars to join him.

Jennifer Tilly as Ray’s scorned ex-lover (Tiffany Valentine),

Romeo & Juliet like lovers Katharine Heigl (Jade) and Nick Stabile (Jesse),

Their best friend (and somewhat voice of reason), David (Gordon Michael Woolvett)

Chief Warren Kincaid (John Ritter), Jade’s shitty cop dad

Lieutenant Preston (Lawrence Dane)

Norton (Michael Louis Johnston), Warren’s officer rat

From L-R: David, Jesse, Jade, Warren, and Norton. (Screencap, Bride of Chucky, 1998)

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To sum the film up, Tiffany Valentine sets up an officer to bring her the ripped-to-shreds “Good Guy” so she can hold a ritual to put Ray’s soul back into the body of Chucky. From then on, the film deals with commitment issues, Tiffany ending up in the body of the “bride”, and two HS teens who run away on a road trip to New Jersey when Jesse gets paid to take the (unknowingly) possessed dolls to the gravesite of Charles Lee Ray. Moreso, shit goes south very quickly when Jesse and Jade get framed for the murder spree that the dolls commit.

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Now to the nitty gritty of what I loved, hated, and honorable mentions of the 1hr 29min film:

(Cont)

LOVES:

1) Balance of well-timed comedic one-liners, masochism, and satisfying kills

Let’s face it—every shitty character that a film makes you hate from the get-go eventually gets what’s coming to them.

—The karma-filled death of Officer Warren. Whilst Jesse and Jade believe that Warren is not home, they pack for their little road trip. Warren shows up to plant drugs into the van, which makes Tiffany and Chucky take matters into their evil little doll hands so that their plans don’t get derailed. Tiffany lures Warren to the front of the vehicle, only for him to be met with a face full of nails ejected from opening the booby-trapped glove box.

(Screencap, Bride of Chucky, 1998) (If you’re curious, you can view the scene HERE)

Talk about getting NAILED, but not in the fun way HAHA

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My most favorite thing about the film BY FAR? The comedic and perfectly timed one-liners.

—On the theme of masochism, after Jesse and Jade elope at one of those cheesy quick marriage chapels, they spend the night in the honeymoon suite. They meet a swinging and swindling couple who steal the $500 Tiffany left for Jesse to make the trip. Tiffany and Chucky catch the woman and sneak away to get their revenge after Jesse and Jade fall asleep. The swingers die (in a very cool, albeit horrible, way) when Tiffany throws a bottle of champagne into the voyeurism mirror above the bed, leaving the swingers a shredded bloody mess amidst pieces of now-shredded waterbed. [Pt. 1, you can view HERE.)

Valentine’s brilliance gets Chucky…“going” (look, I feel weird even typing that), and they decide to act out what every kid does with dolls when their parents aren’t looking. In the middle, Tiffany asks Chucky, “Do you have a rubber”? To which Chucky replies that he’s made of rubber. (Okay, view at own risk of ruining your childhood HERE.)

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2) Story & timeline recap and consistency

Like I mentioned in the beginning of this review, you really don’t need to watch “Child’s Play” to get the gist of this film whatsoever.

—When we’re introduced to Tiffany’s trailer home, the camera takes a brilliant panoramic stroll across a shelf of newspaper clippings that she had kept. These clippings detail the date when Charles Lee Ray (Chucky) was caught & killed, as well as the snippets of Andy telling the police that the “Good Guy” doll was responsible for the murders all the way in 1988’s first installment.

The Heart of Damballa” AKA the Amulet

—When Chucky gets back at Tiffany for keeping his doll form locked up in a wooden play-pen, he eventually escapes, electrocutes Tiff in the bathtub, and transfers her body into the bride doll that she got to give Chucky as a sick joke (will explain later on). When they’re both stuck in their new bodies, Chucky explains (as the film shows), that when Charles died, he had the amulet around his neck that transferred his soul (as seen in Child’s Play)—hence the road trip to get it so they can do the same with living potential vessels, Jesse and Jade.

[The Heart of Damballa, buried with Charles Lee Ray. (Screencap, Bride of Chucky, 1998)]

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DISLIKES:

1) The extremely hot/cold cat-and-mouse game between Chucky and Tiffany throughout

This all stems from Tiffany finds a ring that she believed Charles had left for her after he’d been caught and gunned down. Chucky shortly informs her that she was “fuckin’ nuts” for thinking that he’d commit (hence Tiff getting set off and locking him in the pen). Sure, a couple argues here and then. But in this case, when the audience (I) think(s) that there’s a breather, they continue to pile on. I get that they’re laying out the character dynamic, but it’s a bit much. They have heartwarming moments (considering the fact that they’re serial killers), but as soon as you blink, they want to kill one another.

[Tiffany taunting Chucky after locking him in with his “bride.” (Screencap, Bride of Chucky, 1998)]

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2) THE ENDING—okay, well, specifically one piece to the finale of the film

As the police hunt for Jesse and Jade, Lt. Preston finds them at the dug-up gravesite of Charles Lee Ray. Preston then sees the evil and very much alive doll. Preston tells Jesse and Jade that the police won’t believe what’s clearly unfolding. He then gets a call and simply says (I’m paraphrasing) “Well, Jesse and Jade, they didn’t do it.”

—Honestly, it came across as anticlimactic. I would have liked to see them get further framed, because, at that point, I couldn’t stand the couple anymore. That’s just me being a cynic.

(Screencap, Bride of Chucky, 1998) [Preston taking a phonecall]

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HONORABLE MENTION:

The soundtrack!!! As much as I love films, the first things that stand out to me about any movie are the score and licensed music that go along with them.

If you’re not familiar with the artists, the groovy/rocking/brooding musical picks fit so incredibly well with their placements within Bride of Chucky and oh so perfectly encapsulates a true throwback ‘90s film.

From SLAYER and Judas Priest to White Zombie, Blondie, etc., this album fully kicks ass and makes you feel much more immersed into the movie.

(Credit: Genius.com)

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All in all, the humor aforementioned in #1 saves the minor annoyances in this film for me. If you’re terrified of the dolls (like I was), this is the perfect “ice breaker” to start out with.

Rating: 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 (4 out of 10 Stabs)

Anyone still want Tiffany’s meatball recipe??

(Screencap, Bride of Chucky, 1998)

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acoolchickouthere13 · 4 years

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Hey. I saw your comment about Cornelia Street possibly being Elizabeth street. Do you have a full more detailed song analysis of it being about time spent at Karlie’s place and not about time spent in the apartment Taylor rented?

I don’t have any evidence of it, it’s just purely speculation. But, there are a couple reasons why I say it’s a fun, creative possibility it’s written about (1)spending time at Karlie’s apartment on Elizabeth street in early 2014(January-March), as opposed to (2)the time at Cornelia St. (May/June 2016-early 2017(so about 6 months to one single year))

So let’s look at the first hypothetical scenario: (1) spending time at Karlie’s apartment on Elizabeth street in early 2014(January-March)

A) the simplest reason that it started out as just a fun, comical thought was “they have the same syllables!🤪” but then I was like “wait a minute...”

B) at the end of Cornelia St. there’s sounds of a storm...which could be the sound of the “perfect storm” of Clean.

C) In “...Ready for It” it talks about “let the games begin”...and in Cornelia St. it says “back when we were card sharks playing games, I thought you were leading me on.”

i. This also makes me believe RFI is also written early on. I do believe it’s a song of duality and sarcasm, as others have also speculated. The verses being her bombastic media alter ego and the chorus being her real self. AND, in the RFI chorus the original lyrics were “in the middle of the night in my dreams, that’s when I get to be with you; you’re so sweet.” —-> wildest dreams is all about dreaming of being with someone, not to mention the liner note HE ONLY SAW HER IN HIS DREAMS, so is “Sometimes I wonder when you sleep Are you ever dreaming of me?” in Delicate, which leads me to believe all 4 songs (Delicate, Wildest Dreams, ...Ready For It, and Cornelia St.) refer to the dreams about the NEW relationship. (“Every night with us is like a dream” in New Romantics also seems like a duality sarcasm song)

ii. Speaking of “NEW”!!... “Sacred new beginnings”

D.) Lyric analysis:

- “We were in the backseat Drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar.” Could this be the same bar in Delicate? “Dive bar on the east side where you at?”

- "I rent a place on Cornelia Street" I say casually in the car. Now I know this song in general is in first person but it could be written from Karlie’s perspective. I think Welcome To New York is written from Karlie’s perspective(“you” being Taylor and “me” being Karlie), and I think the same goes for This Is What You Came For(“she” being Taylor). I have no reason to believe the “I” in Cornelia St. isn’t Taylor...but I also have no reason to believe it isn’t Karlie.

- “We were a fresh page on the desk” resonates again like “sacred NEW beginnings.” Like a new relationship, also “page” is referenced again in NYD

- To me, “Filling in the blanks as we go” has the same echo as “we can’t make any promises now can we babe?”(Delicate) and “don’t read the last page”(New Year’s Day)—-Sidenote: I also think NYD is talking About the rebirth that resulted from “Clean”

- “As if the street lights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home.” This line is recognising the place in the song(wether it be Karlie’s apartment on elizabeth st. Or the place on Cornelia st.) as a place they both recognise as home. “Home” is also regurgitated in I Think He Knows: “I think he knows When we get all alone I’ll make myself at home And he'll want me to stay.” —— ITHK is also a song I perceive to be written early in their relationship, after Wildest Dreams. Where it’s still delicate but Taylor thinks Karlie knows Taylor is invested. “we can follow the sparks I’ll drive. so where we gonna go?” Sparks indicate newness, and I think it’s them planning Big Sur, especially since Taylor drove

- “I get mystified by how this city screams your name”, now, Karlie, as we all know, is allll over NYC career wise and billboard wise lol and, maybe the wonderful enchantment and awe of it never ends and is always amazing...but it could also be the beginning of them knowing each other, finding out this new person you’re into IS all over NYC, it IS mystifying

- “I'm so terrified of if you ever walk away.” The “walking away” is expected when they meet, in Wildest Dreams...but I think this line signifies a turning point for their commitment being more substantial. Saying the possibility of Karlie walking away is possible but terrifying

- “Windows swung right open, autumn air.” Now this fits with the 2016 timeline, and it could very well be true...or it could be an edit to make it fit more with the Joe timeline. If she were really talking about Elizabeth street, it would’ve been during winter...which, is when jackets are worn lol “Jacket 'round my shoulders is yours”

- “We bless the rains on Cornelia Street.” This makes me think of Spring time(April showers bring May flowers)...but neither 2016 or 2014 shows Spring being a season when they lived on either street. So maybe rain is metaphorical in this sense. I’m not sure how though

- “Back when we were card sharks playing games, I thought you were leading me on.” Assuming this was written about early 2014, “games” is reiterated in multiple songs, as I said before. “Baby let the games begin”(RFI), “cat and mouse for a month or two or three”(paper rings) “I’m about to play my ace”(New Romantics).

- “I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street Before you even knew I was gone.” Taylor spends time with Karlie from potentially as early as December/early January 2014 until presumably ~Jan. 27-~Feb 1st, 2014 when she returns back to the Red tour in London.

- “But then you called, showed your hand. I turned around before I hit the tunnel; Sat on the roof, you and I.” They confessed feelings and sat on Taylor’s roof together, which is reiterated in King of My Heart: “is this the end of all the endings?...all these nights we’re spending up on the roof...” Then Taylor goes back on tour, and since she’s happily in a new relationship(or stabilism to say the least), she probably pens “I Forgot that You Existed” and “Clean” about being in London on the Red tour from ~Jan. 28- ~Feb. 9, 2014 at the same time as Dianna and she didn’t even think of her.

- “You hold my hand on the street, Walk me back to that apartment. Years ago, we were just inside”- now assuming this is written in 2014 about 2014 it’d be “months” ago...and if it were written 2018 about early 2014 it’d be “years ago”

- “Sacred new beginnings That became my religion.” I think this is echoed again in Don’t Blame Me, which I think in part is about the trip to Big Sur, and about getting a new publicist.

- “I rent a place on Cornelia st. I say casually in the car.” Honestly I have no idea why the song opens AND closes with this sentence. Is the opener past tense and the closing line present tense? Is the opening line supposed to be Elizabeth at and the closing line Cornelia?? I dont know lol

NOW, let’s look at the second hypothetical scenario and say this song was (2) written in 2018 about May/June 2016-early 2017(so anywhere from about 6 months to one single year))

A) at the end of Cornelia St. there’s sounds of a storm...which could be the sound of “the storm that’s coming” in Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

B) Lyric analysis:

- “I rent a place on Cornelia Street" I say casually in the car. I dont know why this would be said casually as if to seem cool if they were dating for two years at this point, unless it’s casually in an expected sense

- “We were a fresh page on the desk Filling in the blanks as we go.” So renting Cornelia street happened right after Tayvin ended and right as Hiddleswift started(knowing what that outcome was going to be, and knowing Joe was the ultimate long term goal from a PR perspective) so they had everything mapped out, a fresh page (“paper thin plans”(DBATC))

- “I get mystified by how this city screams your name” like I said earlier, maybe the amazement never ends or gets old

- “I'm so terrified of if you ever walk away” after so much time spent together like two years it would be terrifying if this significant person walked away

- “Windows swung right open, autumn air” this does follow the timeline of 2016

- “We bless the rains on Cornelia Street” I still think this is metaphorical because spring of 2016 also isn’t a time when they lived at Cornelia st.

- “Back when we were card sharks, playing games I thought you were leading me on” probably reminiscing on the games being played in the beginning of 2014 two years ago

- “I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street Before you even knew I was gone” i dont know why you wouldn’t tell your long term partner of two years you’re leaving the place or why they wouldn’t know, but the rental of Cornelia st ended in early 2017. Maybe it was to avoid the paps and press

- “But then you called, showed your hand I turned around before I hit the tunnel Sat on the roof, you and I.” I dont know why you wouldn’t know the hand of someone you’ve been seriously dating for two years...

- “You hold my hand on the street Walk me back to that apartment.” Taylor and Karlie didn’t have much, if any, PDA in 2018 so I’m not sure what it’s referring to here

- “Years ago we were just inside.” So heres where it makes me thing it was written about 2014. Even if this were written in 2018 about 2016 it would baaarely qualify for “years ago”, especially since moving out was early 2017

- “‘I rent a place on Cornelia st. I say casually in the car’” I still don’t know why this is repeated at the end

#taylor swift #taylorswift #ts #lover #kaylor #gaylor #swift #1989 #karlie #kloss #gaylor swift #klossy #karliekloss #karlie kloss #cornelia st #cornelia street #song analysis #rep #reputation

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whispersafterdusk · 4 years

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Lost in Time - ch 3

That night he'd left Sam and Remington to guard the sinkhole and had helped Xu get Dawa and the unconscious woman back to the clinic. Dawa was cleaned up, shown how to wrap his badly sprained ankle, given some painkillers, and was released; the woman was still unconscious when Arlo stopped by the following morning -- Xu assured him that the woman seemed healthy enough but that he'd have to monitor her closely since there was no telling how she'd been kept alive for so long inside that tube or what that preservation might have done to her.

Arlo had a nagging curiosity about the woman - and who wouldn't? The realization had hit him as he was dressing that morning that they'd just pulled a woman out of an Old World facility, who might actually BE from the Old World herself. That was huge. It wasn't even something he'd have believed if he hadn't personally witnessed it himself. Who she was, what year she'd come from, how she'd ended up down there...all of those were questions he knew he needed answers for but first he'd have to wait for her to wake up and recover and then hope it wouldn't be too overwhelming for her to find herself in a completely different time period. ((Continued below cut))

It was just one more thing on his mind as he walked out to the sinkhole with Selene and Higgins both in tow; he'd had to firmly put his foot down once already and none-too-politely tell Higgins he wasn't allowed down into the facility without a Civil Corps escort unless he wanted to be locked up until his shop fell off the leader boards entirely. Higgins had a tendency to "be the best" at the expense of everything and everyone else, and Arlo could absolutely see the man attempting to sneak down into the ruins to claim all the "best" stuff for himself and selfishly hoard things out of the reach of the Research Center and the other builders in Portia. He'd not mentioned the woman to Higgins yet but it had occurred to him, on the walk out there, that their mystery woman might actually have personal property down in that facility, and that if anyone had a claim to anything out of there it'd be her.

The minor hitch with that thought was since Arlo hadn't mentioned the woman yet and probably shouldn't mention her until Gale made an announcement...until Arlo could definitively say "this absolutely does not belong to you" he knew Higgins would probably think it'd be worth it to try and risk sneaking in.

With that in mind his misgivings about bringing Higgins along doubled but...unfortunately Selene couldn't handle a job of this magnitude on her own in a quick enough manner for Gale's liking, and while Arlo even had doubts that Higgins would wait long enough for them to get the skeletons out before he tried taking anything the more pressing matter was making sure that sinkhole didn't get any bigger or further damage the facility and risk something leaking out into their water supply (again). To do that quickly they'd need the man's help...there just wasn't any way around it.

Up ahead the bright red tent Remington had set up stood out against the snow and served as a beacon for them between the trees. They all carried rope and tools, and Selene had measuring equipment and an old metal detector she'd cobbled together with the Research Center's help; once they'd taken some measurements and more closely examined the shaft they'd have Dana give her recommendations on how best to reinforce everything (on the basis that the elevator shaft wasn't too different from a mining shaft and if anyone would know how to shore up crumbling dirt walls walls it'd be her).

In front of the tent was a sizeable bonfire burning away, and as they approached Remington came out of the tent.

"How was your night?"

"Not too bad, actually. Set that little alarm clock to go off every couple of hours and Sam and I swapped off to keep the fire going," Remington grinned. "Planted the tent off to the side and all the heat came right in while the smoke blew by."

Arlo nodded; he'd felt bad that they'd had to stay out in the elements all night but then again, thinking back to his doubts about Higgins... "Good to know. I'll be taking tonight's post. Did you see anyone?"

"Not a soul."

"Good." He turned to Selene and Higgins then. "Selene's already been down there, and I've already briefed you on what to expect," he said, directing that to Higgins. "We're not constructing anything today - all Gale wants us to focus on today is assessing and then taking those assessments to Dana to create a plan. Any questions?"

Both builders shook their heads, and Arlo led them over to the tied off rope that was now connected to a motorized winch and pulley system staked in the ground with big iron rail spikes; Remington must have been busy overnight as there were now four sets of makeshift rope harnesses hanging from the lowest branches of the tree the rope system was connected to.

"The motor can handle two at a time," Selene said as she inspected one of the harnesses. "-you know, if you don't mind being face to face, back to back, or face to whatever with someone in close quarters."

"One at a time sounds fine," came Sam's voice from behind them, her tone as dry as the desert; she headed over to slip on a harness as the others chuckled and readied themselves to head down.

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He needed to make a quick trip back into town before camping out for the night and on his way in Arlo stopped at the clinic again.

"How is she?"

Xu looked up from a pile of papers on his desk. "Well, the vitals I'm getting are getting stronger. She's surprisingly not too dehydrated and while there's some signs of muscle atrophy it's not debilitatingly so. There's some skin break down and irritation where all those wires and things were glued on, and..." he paused, tapping the end of his pen on the table. "Well. I shouldn't speculate. She does have some very strange scarring patterns but I'll wait until she wakes to discuss their origin with her."

Arlo glanced over to the bed in the corner that held the woman; her hair was dry and someone had loosely pulled it into a ponytail just over her left shoulder - Phyllis was there silently taking the woman's pulse and recording it on a clipboard in hand.

The woman looked as pale as the white hospital gown she now wore and could have easily been mistaken for a wax statue if he didn't already know she was a living, breathing person. "Keep us posted, and keep this quiet as well - and that's by Gale's orders."

"Oh I know, he's already been by. In fact, he told me to bar entry to anyone that wasn't you and the Corps, Phyllis, or himself -- with an exception for those sick and injured, of course, but then I think the screen is enough to keep her from view." Xu chuckled and swept up the papers, beginning to tap them on the table to even them out into a neat stack - Arlo noticed the topmost page had two cartoonish outline drawings of a female body, front and back, and Xu had made markings across the halves. "Even if he hadn't I don't think I'd be telling anyone anyway. They'd probably think I'd lost my mind."

Arlo nodded. "If I hadn't been there myself I wouldn't believe it either." With that he left the clinic and headed further into town; once he had stocked up on food, bought another long-sleeved undershirt, new liners for his boots, and had stopped by his room to grab a whetstone he trekked back out for his turn at keeping watch over the sinkhole.

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With such an unusual situation and a patient that was both a delicate case and also not an alarming concern Xu had brought over pillows and blankets from his home and packed a dinner and breakfast for himself. The floor of his clinic wasn't all that comfortable but at the very least if all he did was lightly doze then he'd hear every little noise in the room and could respond immediately if the woman took a sudden turn for the worse.

Or, as it happened, if she happened to wake up.

The change in her breathing pattern was very slight - barely more than a pause and a quiet gasp - but in the silent room it stood out to his practiced ears, and in an instant he was flinging blankets aside to get on his feet and over to her bed.

Her eyes were open but unfocused and she didn't seem to notice him appearing beside her even when he flipped on the lamp at the head of her bed; when he waved a hand within her line of sight she flinched and sank further into her pillows.

"Hello there - can you hear me? My name is Dr. Xu."

Her eyelids fluttered -- he knew then that this sudden bout of consciousness wasn't going to last long. Carefully he reached out to take her pulse, and her head on the pillow slowly turned in his direction.

"Can you hear me? Can you tell me your name?"

A few garbled noises came out of her then right as she slipped back into unconsciousness Xu swore he heard at least one word that sounded like 'Elizabeth.'

He remained standing there for some time, taking her pulse at regular intervals and monitoring as it returned to normal levels. When she was back to her baseline vital readings he turned the lamp off and headed back to his desk, taking up his pen and writing Elizabeth across the top of the woman's file.

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The temperature was slowly warming as the days passed -- it was still definitely cold (it WAS winter after all) but the frigid front that had brought that monster storm with it had long since moved on and Portia was gradually returning to a more normal winter temperature range.

This was, of course, a double edged sword, especially out near the sinkhole; the mud was only getting deeper the more everything thawed out and it was starting to make it a bit dangerous to get anywhere near the lip of the hole. Selene was already drawing up plans to build an anchored platform around the sinkhole, leaving Higgins the bulk of the work when it came to making the support beams and cross braces for the shaft. The two of them (after Arlo had 'gently' persuaded Higgins to act like a team member) had managed to outsource some of the minor parts to the smaller shops in town and yet even with five builder's shops working together it was still going to be a week or two before the shaft was shored up and the platform built.

Arlo felt thankful (and a bit guilty that he felt thankful) that tonight wasn't his turn to take the overnight watch as he waded back into town, coated in mud to his knees and wanting little more than a meal and a bath but, as he did each time he came back in after a watch, he went to the clinic first.

Phyllis greeted him as he came through the door, then somewhat awkwardly asked him to wipe his feet -- not that that would do much but it did get the point across that it would be appreciated if he wouldn't track mud in beyond the door. From the doorway he couldn't see the bed behind the screen but he could see the back half of Dr. Xu, and could hear a quiet conversation going on back there in the corner.

'Does that mean she's awake?'

Phyllis walked over to Xu and placed a hand on his shoulder; Xu leaned his head back enough to peer around the edge of the screen to look over at Arlo at the door. After a moment (it seemed like he'd shuffled something from hand to hand) Xu flashed Arlo a confirming gesture -- everything was all right.

He also assumed that meant that yes, the woman was awake. That also probably meant that now wasn't the time to intrude.

Arlo gave Xu a quick nod in return and left the clinic, plodding from its doorway over to the Corps building. Sam was inside "sparring" with the training dummy and stopped when he entered, looking him up and down.

"Wow."

"Yeah. The mud is getting worse. Selene's going to put a platform up for us to work off of before we all sink up to our eyelids in it."

He'd been hoping the Corps building would be empty (he wanted to strip his boots and pants off right there, but wouldn't do that in front of Sam) so he settled for kicking off his boots and very carefully tiptoeing across the room to his bedroom, doing his best not to shed too much mud as he went. Once inside his quarters he stood on an old throw rug and stripped down, leaving the muddy clothing in a heap on the rug. His legs were cold, clammy, and red.

"-Sam, could you get me a bucket of water?"

He heard a muffled acknowledgement; while he waited he rubbed a towel up and down his legs, working warmth and feeling back into them. Soon there was a single knock at his door and when he cracked it open there was the requested bucket of water and he could just see Sam's back disappearing out the front door - Remington was out there now for the rest of the afternoon and soon Sam would be relieving him for the overnight post.

He brought the bucket inside and sat it next to the table he used as a desk; after retrieving the old bristled brush he kept in his wardrobe he began to attack his boots and get the worst of the mud off his pants. The water was looking pretty grim by the time he was done and finally Arlo tossed the soaked pants over the banister of the stairs at his door and left the boots tucked under the stairs before moving to get dressed in clean clothes. His stomach was making it very clear it was time for a meal and after hours of being out in the cold he was thinking a plate of spaghetti drenched in hot sauce was in order.

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She'd asked him to call her Eli and Dr. Xu was happy to oblige - honestly he was just happy she'd awakened and actually stayed awake for more than a few passing moments while seeming alert and roughly aware of where she was.

Talking was difficult for her so he was careful to phrase everything in 'yes' or 'no' questions so she could nod or shake her head and despite the initial awkwardness of her struggle to form words and his struggle to boil his thought processes down into only two variables they were able to get a few tidbits of information across.

He'd learned she was Elizabeth Summers, and preferred to go by Eli. She wasn't in any pain. She hadn't been aware of the scarring across her body until Xu had brought it to her attention.

Perhaps more importantly she'd communicated she was a Dubei native...if he'd had any doubts about what time period she'd come from that certainly settled them.

Being as she couldn't quite carry on a conversation Xu decided against trying to broach the subject of where and when she was now; after his quick questioning session she'd drifted back to sleep and he went back to his desk to record all the details he'd gotten while Phyllis hovered at his elbow.

To be honest Xu had had doubts she would know anything about her scarring; in a way it was probably for the best as what it LOOKED like pointed to a rather horrific origin.

Namely, it looked like parts of her had been sewn back together.

Both arms had long lines of scars, of various lengths, up and down from shoulder to wrist, with circular scars at the shoulder and across every finger joint -- they were reddish pink lines with tiny dots beside them reminiscent of suture marks. These same sorts of scars were also along her chin and jawline on the right side, her lower ribcage area, and down her left leg. It brought to mind something like a ragdoll's stitching, though more precise and tidy than one would find on a children's toy.

Considering her origin and what he was seeing on her body he had a theory that she'd suffered some sort of terrible trauma and that facility she'd been found in had been some sort of medical center, and it amazed him to think that the Old World had had such technology that they could seemingly stitch a person back together and have that person survive the ordeal (much less survive for 300 years afterward!)

He would need to have a talk with the Research Center, the Civil Corps, and the builders of Portia - if that truly was a medical center down there then the place shouldn't be torn apart willy nilly. Maybe with this woman's help they could identify medical equipment that they could still use or replicate...just the thought of being able to reclaim even a fraction of the medical knowledge and tools of the Old World had Xu nearly vibrating in excitement.

One day at a time, however. The first step would be getting Elizabeth healthy again, without causing her undue suffering when it came time to gently break it to her that she was 300 years outside of her time period and there was no returning to the world she'd once known.

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Together the five builders that called Portia home managed to get all the bits and pieces crafted and in place for the sinkhole.

They'd gotten the platform up around the perimeter of the sinkhole first and had created a dual-motor system that raised and lowered an improvised elevator car that was open on two sides (so they could access the doors on either side of the shaft without adding too many moving parts for the power stones to handle) and had rubber wheels mounted on the two walls to keep it steady inside the shaft since it was a slimmer car compared to the original one they'd found (and dismantled) at the bottom. Cutting all those vines free had taken an entire day on its own but it had been worth it now that they could move up and down the shaft as needed via a system of levers at the top, bottom, and also one within the elevator car itself.

The walls were now secured with heavy wooden and steel beams and metal plating that would hopefully keep the dirt walls of the upper half from crumbling further; once that had been completed they'd moved on to attempting to rewire doors to allow access into the upper levels of the facility to check for more remains -- the second thing on Gale's list had been getting an approximate "head count" for how many graves they would need to dig. Arlo had a sinking feeling they'd need a lot more space than Gale was expecting - probably more than they had room for in Portia's graveyard - and he suspected that they may have to dig a mass grave when it came down to it. Petra and Merlin were eager to examine and study the facility and had expressed hope that the computers were intact enough to maybe pull a staffing roster but even if they could how would they match names to skeletons? A mass grave with a tombstone bearing whatever names they could find would probably be the best they could manage.

Tonight had been his night to keep watch; he was debating whether to build the fire back up or leave it for the others to decide as the sun was beginning to peek over the hills when he spied Remington heading out toward him -- seems the time to switch out was just about here, and if Remington was already on his way then Selene and the others wouldn't be too far behind.

He grabbed a light breakfast at Django's and headed back up the hill intending to go to his room and catch a couple hours of sleep but found himself pausing to look to the clinic -- Xu had mentioned the woman had awakened a few times but each time Arlo had checked in she was asleep still. Should he check in again? It was more for his own curiosity than anything else as he had no ties to her (though, he didn't need to be her friend to worry about her health he supposed) but maybe there was a point where his constant checking would be intrusive...

Arlo's train of thought was interrupted as the clinic doors slid open and Xu walked out; the doctor saw him standing there halfway between the clinic and the Corps building and offered him a quick wave.

"Good morning, Arlo."

"Morning. How's your patient?"

"Doing well. Getting stronger, staying awake for longer periods. I'm actually off to Carol's to see about clothing for her since I'll need to have her up and walking soon to start building those muscles up. -- oh, and have you seen Selene leave yet? I may need crutches or a cane to assist Elizabeth in the short term as she gets her legs back under her."

Elizabeth? That must be the woman's name. "I haven't, but if you hurry you might catch her before she gets too far out. If you don't manage to catch her let me know and I'll tell her when I go back out to the sinkhole later today."

"I will, thanks. Have a good morning."

"You too."

As Xu's steps turned toward the ramp that led down to the plaza Arlo finally headed in to the Corps building; it was quiet and he was yawning his head off as he plodded down the stairs into his room. One of those tin alarm clocks that seemingly everyone in Portia had was sitting on table near his bed and he set an alarm for two hours from now -- he knew if he wasn't careful with how long he slept now he wouldn't sleep properly tonight.

As he kicked off his boots he wondered what this Elizabeth was like - hopefully language and dialects hadn't changed too much in 300 years, and he did sincerely hope it hadn't been too soul wrenching to wake to a completely different world. The more he tried to think about how that might feel the less he could picture it, and rather than get himself worked up over it he fell into bed and tried to empty his mind -- he could theorize and think all he wanted when he was actually rested enough TO think.

--------------------------------------------------

It was nearly a month after finding Elizabeth before Arlo actually got to speak to her.

Work in the ruins was still ongoing -- each time they opened a new door or found a new floor they found more remains; they were up to 96 skeletons so far and assumed they were only going to find more the further in they went. Gale had marked out an area along the city wall across from Sophia's farm as the place for the mass grave they'd need, and was merely waiting to hear how many bodies were going into it before he commissioned the gravestone.

The facility was one giant maze and Higgins and Selene were both working overtime to keep churning out electrical systems to handle things short-term while they continued to search for where the power source in the lower level had been; Selene was convinced that if they could find where it was, even if it was depleted, they could use that as a main focal point to work from instead of having dozens of smaller power devices scattered everywhere.

As usual on the mornings after finishing the overnight watch Arlo came in to town for breakfast at Django's and then was returning to his room to sleep when he found Dr. Xu, Phyllis, and Elizabeth outside the clinic; the woman had a cane in hand - it was made of metal tubing with a rubber-padded handle, and was painted a pastel orange color, and was flanked by Xu and Phyllis as she took a few hesitant steps beyond the door. She was in a heavy coat that hung open and Arlo could see a soft yellow sweater and a colorful shawl beneath it and had on a pair of cargo pants and a pair of work boots with thick soles with her hair brushed back from her face and gathered at her neck with a wide black barette.

The woman's bright blue eyes were sizing him up as he came into view, and when Xu noticed him he waved him over. "Arlo, would you care to meet to Eli?"

"You're Arlo?" Elizabeth asked as he came over. "I'm told you're the one who hauled me out of the ruins. I owe you one."

"Not at all - protecting Portia and her residents is my job, no one owes me for anything," he said, coming to a stop a few feet away.

She moved the cane to her left hand and offered her now-free right hand. "Elizabeth Summers. Call me Eli."

He shook the offered hand. "Pleased to meet you, finally. It's good to see you're on your feet."

"Technically, yes," she said, smiling faintly. "It's going to be awhile before I'm back to normal. I haven't been this thin since I was in high school."

He wasn't entirely sure what a high school was beyond some sort of educational institute but nodded all the same. "Take it one day at a time. There's no sense in rushing a recovery."

"No sense and no means to." She shifted the cane back to her right hand. "I know the first thing I need to do though is get a full accounting of what happened: how you found me, how you got me out, and what that facility looks like and where it is. I also need to get in there ASAP."

"I can provide all that, no problem." Arlo looked to Xu as he spoke and the doctor was silently shaking his head at him. "-I think it may be awhile before we can take you in, though."

"I don't care if you have to strap me to your back and carry me in, I NEED to get in there. The little bit the good doctor here told me has me concerned about the facility's power source -- if it's thermal we should be fine, but if it's nuclear I absolutely need to get in there and check on it."

"...nuclear?" Arlo repeated, brows furrowing. "What's that?"

"Nothing good, if it's damaged."

"What happens if it's...nuclear?" Phyllis broke in. She said 'nuclear' slowly, like she was testing out how the word sounded on her tongue.

Eli paused, biting her lower lip again. "...right, so I want to preface this with the fact that I'm not meaning to cause a panic, but nuclear is...uh... I don't even know how to explain it clearly since it seems like so much technology has been lost - I don't think you'll have even the basic terminology knowledge needed to grasp it. So, basically - nuclear is a power source that, if stable, lasts for hundreds of years. The reactor - the central source of the nuclear power - can meltdown and explode to varying degrees of severity if its been damaged and the explosion can poison the land and any person the debris - called 'fallout' - comes in contact with. Even a small explosion could render this entire region unlivable for generations."

Arlo's eyes widened at that - like they needed something ELSE to worry about. "It's that dangerous?"

"Technically, yes. Depends on IF the reactor was damaged and HOW it was damaged - we built these things to last but knew it wasn't impossible for them to suffer some sort of damage or failure. They all have hundreds of layers of safety measures in place to help prevent a meltdown but Dr. Xu mentioned the warning you got about auxiliary power which means the main reactor isn't powering what's left in that place -- if we're lucky it'll just be the condu- the uh, the wires, I mean - have lost connection somewhere and the reactor is fine. That's best case scenario. The worst case is the reactor was damaged, the aux power being out means the safety measures won't be active, and we might have a volatile situation on hand." After that Eli huffed out a heavy sigh. "I'm praying that Fate says it's just the wiring or that the place is deep enough it won't matter either way but I won't know until I get in there."

Arlo looked wordlessly to Xu and Phyllis; Phyllis looked sick to her stomach and Xu seemed deep in thought. He looked back to Eli. "-how strong do you feel right now?"

"Tired, a little noodly in the knees, but considering the circumstances it could be worse. This is something that can't wait."

Arlo nodded, and turned his attention to Xu again. "I don't think we have a choice, Dr. Xu. We can ride her out there on horseback then I can carry her down again, or Remington or Sam could. Is Eli cleared to leave the clinic yet?"

"Truthfully I don't want her out of my care just yet. But if things could get that dire then you're right that we have no choice." Xu rubbed his chin. "Let's see how you manage walking today - how long your legs can hold you. We'll use that as a baseline and keep a close eye on you tomorrow to make sure you don't push yourself beyond your limits."

Eli gave Xu a small smile. "I know where my limits used to be and where they are now, doctor. And those lines change when lives are on the line."

Xu nodded, seemingly satisfied or at least not against the sentiment. "All right then. Tomorrow morning we'll make the trek regardless, I guess." His gaze moved over to the small stables that was attached to the side of the Corps building. "Am I correct to assume that the Civil Corps will provide the horse?"

"She can ride either Spacer or Arrow. Teddy doesn't really tolerate anyone but Sam on his back."

"Seems we have a plan then." Xu turned slightly and placed a gentle hand on Phyllis's and Eli's shoulders. "Phyllis, go ahead with the planned exercises for today. I need to check in with the mayor and update him on Eli's progress, and I'll also let him know about our little...um. Problem."

"Of course, Dr. Xu," Phyllis said with a nod. She stepped around him and gestured for Eli to follow her, and as the two slowly made their way toward the plaza Arlo heard a quiet "let me know if you need to stop" from her before they were both too far away to overhear.

Xu watched them a moment then scratched at his head. "She's handling this far better than I was expecting. It actually has me MORE worried than I was before."

"Howso?"

The doctor watched the two women for a few moments before responding. "She's shown remarkable resilience in accepting that she's 300 years in the future as well as--" he stopped abruptly, then continued on. "It hardly seemed to faze her, in fact. I don't like that one bit...I feel as though she's suppressing her reaction, maybe supplanting it with her concern over the facility and reactor. I'd much rather see some sort of remorse, or fear, or...or, really, any reaction other than calm acceptance." After a pause he looked to Arlo. "It sounds silly to want to see proof of some sort of emotional pain - no one should want to see someone else suffering - but in this case I worry about the underlying effect on her mental health if she really is refusing to consider or accept how she may actually be feeling about all this."

Arlo mulled that over for a moment; it was never a good thing to bottle things up for too long - such thoughts eventually ate away at you until you exploded like a shaken drink. "I understand, I think. And maybe she's just not ready to really let it sink in. The reactor could just be a convenient thing to think about instead."

Xu sighed, nodding, then shook himself and fixed Arlo with a firm look. "I trust I don't need to impress upon you the importance of not sharing this with anyone?"

"Of course not. I've not said a word to anyone, nor will I."

"Good. I realize I really shouldn't be sharing her details with anyone, as they are quite personal, but being as you directly brought her into my care I feel your perspective may help my own. Especially since you personally saw where she was, what she came out of, and what it's like down in that facility. Your recounting of all of that has given me some insight on how to handle her trauma when it comes to the surface, and I do appreciate it."

Arlo nodded. "It's not a problem at all, and I'll admit hearing how she's doing means I worry less. I can't imagine what it might've been like down in that tube...it'd be awful if she was aware the entire time she was down there."

"True...but then again, maybe that's why she isn't traumatized now. She'd have had 300 years to consider her situation and come to terms with it."

"Maybe, but could you imagine the boredom once she had?"

With a quiet chuckle Xu took a few steps away. "I should get going. Tomorrow morning will come a lot sooner than it seems."

Arlo gave him a little wave as Xu turned to follow after Phyllis and Eli.

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 3 #Arlo #Sam #Remington #Dr. Xu #Higgins #Builder #Eli #Phyllis #My Time at Portia

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heronwritingx · 4 years

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chapter 3

I am really enjoying writing this and well here is chapter 3 because it’s all ive been doing. heathney is such a cute couple and I adore them and I want to write more of them all the time. pls enjoy.

Heather took a deep breath and curled her fingers into a fist, forcing herself to knock on the door of Courtney’s home. Courtney had insisted they went there as her family was away for the weekend and she had the equipment to make posters and buttons and god knows what else. Courtney was over the top and she was going to do anything to win, her posters were always professional and incredible looking but Heather thought it was too much. She really didn’t want to be there; she had been dreading the day from the moment it was planned.

A part of her was nervous too, she had not yet come to understand why her heart felt that way in the cafe. Courtney had always caught her attention, Heather wouldn’t deny that, but that was because of their rivalry. This moment in particular was different though and Heather knew it. It was something she’d never experienced, and she didn’t know how to react to it. So, for now, she was just going to ignore it and hope it didn’t happen again.

“Ugh, finally! Took you long enough!” Courtney whined as she opened the door.

“It’s five past ten.” Heather retorted bluntly, “I’m literally five minutes late.”

“I said ten, not ten o’ five!” Courtney snapped, folding her arms.

“I’ll leave then.” Heather went to turn around, but Courtney quickly grabbed her wrist, not letting her leave.

Courtney had to give in, she couldn’t lose Heather. Heather was her key to winning, she was her key to becoming president. Courtney hated it, she hated that she needed her.

“Sorry, sorry, come in.” Courtney grumbled, tugging on Heather’s arm to enter the doorway.

Heather followed her through her home, it was cold and empty and Heather didn’t like that it didn’t feel too different from her own home. The house felt hollow and lacked any sort of personality. She followed Courtney upstairs and into her bedroom, Courtney leading her in and shutting the door behind her. On the desk and floor was everything Heather expected: Piles of art papers, markers, highlighters and black liners, blank buttons and a machine to make them, EVERYTHING. It was ridiculous. Heather wanted to leave even more, she did not want to be in that room making campaign posters and buttons and knowing Courtney, baked goods.

“Let’s get this over with.” Heather muttered, taking a seat in Courtney’s desk chair.

“Can you sound a little more excited? You want to take down Noah just as much as I do.” Courtney said, huffing.

Heather stopped herself from rolling her eyes and prompted Courtney to begin, she just had to hold her tongue for a few hours and she could leave. Courtney moved to her bed and grabbed three posters that she’d already designed, along with two button designs.

“I know your favourite colour is red, so I thought that would go well with gold and white,” Courtney explained, holding up the first poster that she had made.

“How did you know that?” Heather interjected, her eyes widening in surprise.

“Everything you own is red, your car, nails, pens, you make it obvious.” Courtney waved off her comment and turned back to the poster.

Heather was still surprised Courtney had noticed that about her but when she thought about it, Heather did make it obvious red was her favourite colour. She quickly refocused and turned her attention back to the posters Courtney had made.

“What we need to do is we need to put a picture of both of us, as well as a good slogan, which we need to come up with.” Courtney said.

“A slogan? I didn’t need a slogan to get ahead of you.” Heather frowned, “I think we’ll be fine without one.”

Courtney glared at her for a moment but continued, this time showing a badge with the same colour scheme along with “VOTE FOR COURTNEY + HEATHER”. Courtney had clearly put a lot of effort into the badges and posters, Heather was almost impressed. She was winning without much effort before Noah came along. She had always noticed Courtney’s posters and badges, she always saw it as sort of desperate and pathetic but now Heather could see her drive, her passion towards wanting to win. It was fascinating, Heather was competitive, and she wanted to win but Courtney was on another level when it came to this presidency. Heather ran her cheer team like a sergeant, there was a reason her squad so winning – Courtney reminded her of that drive.

“I like the colour scheme,” Heather said, standing up. “but it’s boring. Your posters are boring, they’re so serious and don’t catch people’s eyes.”

Courtney didn’t react for a moment as Heather took the poster and laid it on the bed, taking hold of a pencil and eraser. She began drawing over what she didn’t like and Courtney watched, interested to see what Heather was thinking.

“It’s just stripes, that’s so boring. We’re winners, we’re going to win, so we need to use something that not only catches the eye but depicts us as winners.” Heather told her, reaching into her page to pull out a pack of sparkly glitters pens, “Personally, I think we should use stars.”

“Stars could work, we could put them on the badges too.” Courtney nodded, her eyes lighting up, “We could even bake—”

“Slow down, slow down! I’m not baking and putting my damn face on it. I have an idea that’s going to work better anyway.” Heather snapped, cutting her off.

Courtney interested was peaked but Heather shushed her and let her know it was a secret, Heather and Courtney both wanted this to be spectacular and they wanted to take Noah by surprise. Heather had just the plan.

The girls sat together on Courtney’s bedroom floor and Heather was surprised she didn’t hate it as much as she thought she would. They discussed ideas back and forth and sure, Heather held her tongue sometimes and she also had to keep Courtney from going too overboard. The girl had too many ideas and wanted all of them – Heather had to ground her sometimes.

“So, are you happy with this design?” Courtney asked.

She placed the laptop on Heather’s legs and leaned in closer to her, their shoulders touching and Heather’s eyes widening. Courtney finger gingerly touched the screen as she explained the design choices, and Heather had to shake her head to focus, she had never been this close to Courtney before. She had never noticed that Courtney’s shoulders were small, and her arms were thin, or how much shorter than Heather the girl was. Her hair smelled of lavender with a hint of citrus, and Heather lost complete focus when Courtney moved to sit on her knees so she could be as close to the laptop as possible without sitting on top of Heather. Her face flushed red and Heather was just thankful Courtney was more interested on the laptop than her.

“I-It’s fine…” Heather’s voice got caught and she DID NOT know how to gain her composure for a second, she didn’t have a clue in the world why she was reacting or feeling this way and it almost took the air out of her.

“I think if it would look even better if we lined the stars and the wording with gold, that’ll really make it pop.” Courtney said, “I want to do the same to the badges but that would be too hard.”

“Yeah, that will be fine.” Heather nodded, leaning away from the girl to get some distance.

“Heather?” Courtney blinked.

“it’s fine, it’s fine, I like it…” Heather turned her head away for a moment.

Heather placed the laptop back on Courtney and quickly stood up, her heart was racing she felt so confused! She needed to get out of the room, she needed to get a grip! Her hands were shaking, and her face was red, she couldn’t even look at Courtney!

“Bathroom! I need the bathroom!” Heather blurted out.

“Oh, it’s down the hall and to the left.” Courtney instructed her.

Heather quickly left the room and ran down the hall, shutting the bathroom door and leaning against it once it was locked. What the hell was that!? Heather felt so embarrassed, so uncool…she’d never been like that ever in her life. No one had ever made her react that way! She was so embarrassed! Why did her body, her heart, her brain react that way? To Courtney of all people! Why is it pounding so much!?

“What is wrong with me?” Heather mumbled.

She couldn’t stay in there long; she didn’t want Courtney to think anything even after her weird behaviour. She just needed to calm down and get her thoughts straight. This was worse than the heart pang though, this was worse than thinking Courtney’s behaviour was cute. Heather thought Courtney was cute.

She made her way back into Courtney’s room and Courtney was sitting, still working on the posters and badges.

“Are we almost done? I’m over being here.” Heather grumbled.

“We still need to—”

“I need a bunch of badges for Monday morning, I’ll make sure we get the attention of everyone. The designs are better, I’m going home.” Heather grabbed her bag and her keys, not letting anything Courtney said stop her from leaving.

Courtney led her to the front door and Heather grumbled a goodbye, Courtney passing off her strange behaviour as Heather just…being Heather. Being left to finish the badges on her own frustrated Courtney but she wasn’t going to start an argument, Heather would have left no matter what.

Heather dropped onto her bed and placed her head into her hands, letting out a loud groan. She was still so embarrassed! What was wrong with her!? Her face flushed pink once more and her heart started to race again as Courtney lingered in her thoughts. Courtney was so close; Heather could almost count the freckles she had sprinkled over her nose and cheeks. She could see how long Courtney’s lashes were and the girl’s smile was utterly adorable and full of pride of the designs they created together.

“Stop it!” Heather shouted at herself.

She fell back onto her bed and grabbed a pillow, slamming her face into it and curling her body around it. She forced her eyes shut and she laid her alone in her thoughts, unsure of what to do. She forced herself to think of anything, anyone else until her brain shut off and she fell asleep. She woke up and it was dark, her brain fuzzy and she wasn’t sure what time or day it was. She reached for her phone and noticed a message from none other than the haunting of her thoughts herself, Courtney.

Look at how cute the badges turned out! See you on Monday. x

Heather glanced down at the picture Courtney sent and she huffed, Courtney was posing with the one of the badges with their faces and names in a star.

“So cute…” Heather mumbled, pushing her face back into the pillows.

#heathney #total drama #td heather #td courtney #heather x courtney #tdi #tdwt #tda #pls...tell me what you think

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babyloontrash · 5 years

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Anti-Valentine’s Day (C.H.)

Summary: Calum spends Valentine’s Day with his dear friend.

Words: 5,1k

Note: I seem to have a thing for Calum and his friends. Dunno why. This just sort of happened but I am not sorry.

Truth be told, she wasn’t even sure how exactly this unusual tradition started. But here she was, four years later, getting ready for the annual anti-valentine’s day.

“You two are just weird,“ her friend declared while she watched her carefully apply her eye-liner. The girl stood only a few steps away, curling her hair into these lovely, romantic curls. Her make-up was already on, and she was wearing a pink and red dress. At any other day, she would get complimented for it but tonight, she looked like a walking advertisement for Valentine.

“What’s your problem with tonight anyway? Celebrating love and doing something nice for the person you are in love with is nice. How on Earth can you hate love this much?“

“I don’t hate love.“ she pulled the pen away from her eye and looked at her, shaking her head.

“Your shirt suggests something else.“

She looked down at it and grinned. The black t-shirt had the words ‚‘DON’T FALL IN LOVE, FALL OFF A CLIFF, IT HURTS LESS‘ written on it.

“Oh. Yeah. That’s just this thing we do. Competition of sorts. The one who comes with the best anti-love shirt wins breakfast. I don’t want to brag, but I won the last two years.“

Her friend rolled her eyes when she heard it but then she motioned with her hand to make her continue talking. Hoping she would find out what all of this about.

"The Valentine's Day is just stupid, you know," she continued bitterly after that. "Couples who very often cannot even stand each other, and honestly, would do themselves a service if they just split, act as if they have never been more in love on that one particular day. And why? Just because society expects them to and they simply got sold on this foolish idea that on February 14th you have to be happy and in love, otherwise you are just a lonely loser and you get reminded of it on pretty much every corner. Love is cute, love is nice and amazing, but only when it is sincere. I don't want someone to buy me flowers and chocolate just because they saw some advertisement that told them they should do that. You get me?"

There was a moment of silence as her friend thought about her words. She had to admit this point was making some sense.

"Yeah. I guess I do," her friend answered in the end, she was just about to point out that it is not everyone's case, though. Some couples really are in love, the whole year round, and yet they voluntarily choose to celebrate today anyway. Just like her and Adam. Before she got all the words out however, the doorbell of their apartment started ringing, and she briefly glanced towards her phone, checking the time.

Adam wasn't supposed to be here until seven, because of his shift at work. With how annoying and strict his boss was, there wasn't a chance for this to be some cutesy gesture of him showing up earlier and with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. Knowing his situation, it was most likely that he would end up arriving late.

"That's gotta be Calum," she spoke, and then glanced towards her friend." Could you let him inside please?"

While she continued to adjust her hair, her friend left the bathroom and went to get the door. The first thing she saw when she opened them was the unique print on Calum's black shirt. A heart made of the Tetris blocks, well an almost-heart, to be precise. The brick falling towards it would not fit into the last gap that needed to be filled for the heart to be complete. Under that, one could read the words 'THIS GAME SUCKS'.

"Sweet," she commented sarcastically before she looked up to see his grinning face while he greeted her and she stepped aside, so he could walk in.

"She will be ready to go in five," she promised as he walked over to the couch and then collapsed on the top of it.

He nodded his head in acknowledgement but they both knew that as long as he would be chilling on this couch, the waiting wouldn't bother him at all.

"Still can't believe you bought this couch second-hand and paid for it with just a pack of beers. How unfair is that? Mine cost me hundreds, and it's nowhere as comfortable as this one."

"Oh no. Here come the tragic struggles of a rich guy," she said suddenly as she walked out of the bathroom.

For a moment, it seemed like her friend had been right and they could really go now. Both her hair and makeup were done, her anti-valentine shirt was on too. And man, it was good. Her game was on point, again.

His eyebrows rose up when he looked lower and noticed she was not wearing any pants.

"Look at you, I didn't get you anything and you are already half-naked. We both know I am not into this whole Valentine thing, but if I was, I would be definitely winning right now," he said amusedly while she flipped him off.

"Love you too," he replied and then watched her disappear into her bedroom.

He had had to wait for a while before he got his answer since this girl was busy with getting ready herself.

"Ahh. You know, the usual. We got a reservation at the restaurant where we met, then we will go get a drink or two and then have plenty of passionate sex."

"That sounds like a very cool plan," he agreed, and she excitedly nodded her head in agreement.

"What about you two?"

"Ahh. You know, the usual. We are coming to the little house Michael's parents have right outside the town, we binge watch some TV, eat, go to the beach, get drunk and then have plenty of incredible sex."

"I am not having sex with you, idiot." She said when she stepped out of the door. This time with her pants on.

Her friend laughed when she heard that and Calum flashed her a bright smile.

"She loves me."

"Course I do. Now get your conceited ass off my phone."

He groaned dramatically when she forced him to turn to the side, so she could get her phone from underneath him.

She was looking down at the screen with a little smile playing on her lips, and he exchanged a questioning look with her roommate who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"You know, the plans you have could easily pass as a date. I mean, I wouldn't mind if Adam took me out of the city and we spent the night just chilling together like that."

"It's not a date," they both said in unison which made the poor girl lift her hands up in. She meant no harm.

"Ready to go? We should get out of the town before the roads get too crazy. Then it will take ages," he subtly reminded her after a moment when he came to the feeling that she must be writing a novella of some sorts on her phone.

"Mhmm," she hummed out with her eyes still turned down. Calum let out a heavy sigh before shooting up to his feet and simply snatched the phone out of her hand.

He pushed the phone into his back pocket and headed towards the door, saying his goodbye to her roommate along the way. His hand automatically grabbed on the bag that was laying on the floor near the entrance, but he got stopped by both of them.

"That's her gym bag," she laughed a little bit and lifted up the bag that belonged to her. It had been placed on an armchair, still half open since she had thrown a clean set of towels inside just a little while ago.

"Sorry," Calum smiled at her roommate for a bit as he set it down again. He leaned against the open doorway while he waited for his friend to grab her luggage, put her shoes on and then set out towards their small adventure.

***

It wasn't a long ride. Once they made it in less than thirty minutes, but it was pretty clear that they weren't going to be this lucky today. Not when the roads were full of people who were just coming home from work.

But Calum came prepared. His car was loaded with delicious snacks they could munch on while they were stuck in the afternoon traffic, both of them singing along to the music they had playing. Having to wait like this with her was definitely less of a pain than it would be if he was to sit here alone. Even though it meant he had to listen to her not so good singing. What she lacked in talent, she desperately tried to make up for with genuine passion. It didn't work, but he definitely appreciated the effort.

There was a moment during the song Survivor, however, when he simply couldn't help but laugh. To be honest, he deserved the punch into his ribs right then.

She fell completely silent afterwards and when he looked at her, she was wearing this 'don't you even dare to talk to me, I am upset with you' look. It typically lasted for only about a few minutes, but Calum could never wait that long when it came to her.

And nor could she when it came to him.

"You are an asshole."

"But you are still friends with me so what does that say about you?"

"Touché."She chuckled and then reached back to pull out a pack of M&Ms. "Open," she instructed a moment later and put two of those sweets into his mouth.

When she wanted to treat herself as well, her phone, which was still in Calum's holding beeped, and she instantly set the packet down.

"Gimme the phone back."

"What are you so excited about? Who is texting you that you are so eager? Is it a boy?"His voice picked up a teasing tone towards the end, and she rolled her eyes. It was only after he had pressed on her again that she admitted it was.

"Ew. Come on. Boys suck."

"You are a boy."

"So I must know more about this than you. Who is this guy?"

She was a bit hesitant at first, but it didn't take long before he found out about what this guy's name, age, and major was. He listened to her talk about how they attended a couple of classes together but never really talked. Last weekend, they met at a party, and he finally asked for her number, and apparently, they had been texting ever since.

"And you like him?"

"He is all right." She shrugged. "Can I get my phone back now?"

Cal reached his hand into his pocket and pulled the phone out, handing it to her. When she was reaching for it, he jerked his hand back slightly. "But don't you dare to replace me with him."

***

They parked the car in front of the small house about forty minutes later. Both of them relieved that they finally made it and that they could enjoy the peace both of them wanted.

"Hey!" Calum called out, catching her attention before he tossed the set of keys over to her.

He got all their stuff out of the car and brought them into the house. Considering they were going to leave this place again tomorrow afternoon, there was way too much stuff in his hands. It was better to come prepared. Always. The last thing any of them wanted, was to have to go out to get something they missed. All the food and the alcohol were left in the large open space that was the kitchen and the living room. She said that she would unpack those while he would bring their bags into the bedroom.

He no longer bothered with carrying each bag to a different bedroom. They always ended up in the same bed anyway. When the time to get to bed came, they were both usually in a very chatty mood. It was only when the sun started to peek out that they both finally began to drift off. Lying next to each other and with Calum's eyebrows slightly furrowed after the drunken fight they had about the universe.

"I see the party already started without me." Calum snickered when he later returned into the room. The bottle of Coke had been already opened and so was the bottle of rum.

"So did the cooking though," she pointed out and stepped aside for a bit, so he could see that she had already started with preparing the chicken pieces."What took you so long anyway?"

"Please, don't tell me you jacked off in the bed of Michael's parents. Again."

"It was in the bathroom," Calum corrected her after he had pierced her with a strict gaze. "And you would have no knowledge of that if you only had some manners and knew a that one is supposed to knock."

She threw her head back. "I did not know you were in there. I thought you were already in the kitchen ma-."

"Preparing breakfast for you, because you won. I know. I already heard that. Can you just look at what you are doing? The flour is now everywhere."His large hand motioned to the bits of the mixture that got out of the bowl during her little rant.

She turned her eyes down again and cursed quietly when seeing the mess.

Calum made some space for himself beside her, so he could put in a helping hand and be useful.

"I suppose you could have fed me that as well," she said jokingly after a moment, making the poor boy choke on the drink he had poured himself only a few seconds ago.

***

The room smelled of the spices they used for their chicken. They were both sitting on the couch now, some awful action movie playing in the TV in front of them. For someone who was just stuffing their face in the living room, they were both quite dressed up. Calum could see her eyeliner was on point. The two flicks actually looking like twins instead of just sisters, which was honestly the case most of the times. Her lipstick was just a little bit smudged from the eating but she still looked great.

She had her hair in its natural state. State, he actually liked most, in case anyone was interested in his opinion. Just a little shinier than it was usually. He let her go on a rant about the products she had used to achieve that, even though she had lost him right in the beginning. She looked nice. She always did. At least to him, anyway. Today it was just a bit advanced.

She wasn't the only one who paid more attention to their appearance today. Calum had spent almost twenty minutes standing in front of the mirror just to get his hair look like this. And he might have chosen this shirt over a different, much better one, just because this had a tighter fit.

Ashton had mocked him when he watched him get ready, checking himself out in the mirror more times than was necessary. According to his buddy, he had never tried this hard for any date.

This was not a date.

This was an anti-valentine day he was spending with her.

This mattered to him more than any date ever did.

"Now that's just unrealistic!"

She stopped the fork from entering her mouth. "Seriously? You are getting this feeling just now?"

Calum nodded his head, mouth full.

"The main character found out their twin, a twin he didn't know he had, goes after him and wants to kill him because he is the one who hit his wife with his car. And you find /this/ unrealistic?"

The movie was shit, but they watched the sequel anyway. Only to finish it a movie that Netflix suggested to them and was just as bad.

It was a good thing that they didn't go with her idea to turn watching them into a drinking game. If they had, they would both be way too drunk right now even though the sun still hasn't set down.

***

For the sunset, they made it to the beach. It was just a short walk. Less than ten minutes long. They could have made it in five if they hadn't made those stops just to take some pictures.

"Look at you in this picture!" She said excitedly and turned her phone towards him.

Calum looked up, stuck in a bending position as he was setting their blanket down onto the sand.

"I look like an idiot in that one."

"You don't," she frowned and looked at the screen herself once more. She didn't understand what was his problem with that picture. It was a full body shot of him sitting on some stairs, arms reached back as he was leaning against them.

His muscular thighs and strong arms were very nicely on the show. But it was the expression he wore that made her smile so bright.

In the picture, he wasn't intentionally posing anymore. She captured his genuine laugh, his mouth spread into a wide smile, and his eyes crinkled for a little bit. One could practically hear the joyful sound he was making when they looked at the picture.

"A happy idiot, maybe," she shrugged her shoulders in the end.

Calum rolled his eyes at her and then nodded his head towards the blanket. "Sit your ass down, will you? Don't want the wind to mess it up again."

"I will," she nodded and took a seat right beside him.

They sipped on the beers they brought with them and watched the colour of the sky change. The waves crashing against the shore in front of them.

None of them could imagine spending tonight differently. Whether it was in a different place, or with a different person.

There were this comfort and closeness that surrounded them. They could be talking about anything, really. But even the moments when they fell silent and words were shared felt nice to both of them.

Together, they felt content, absolutely at ease and also... cared and loved.

No matter what happened, they could always rely on each other. There were definitely moments when they fought, called each other out on their mistakes and rolled their eyes at the other's stupid decisions. Still, they could be sure the other has their backs and will be there when they will need them.

They felt a similar bond with some of their other friends too.

But with them, there was always something a bit extra to it too. It was never really spoken of. God knew that talking about things like this never came easily to either of them. There could be no doubts that they both felt it, though.

She suddenly sprung to her feet, losing her balance just a little bit. It could have been because of those drinks she had, or maybe it was just because the movement was simply too fast. Calum swiftly moved his arms up in an attempt to prevent her from falling. His hands landed on her shapely hips, and his fingers dug into the soft flesh through the fabric of her pants.

"I am good. I am good," she chuckled as she turned around, assuring him before he even got the chance to ask.

The question really was on his lips, and he smiled up at her in the dark. She flashed him a smile back, one he couldn't see since it was her back that faced the moonlight.

"Good."

She held her hand out, handing him the emptied bottle of beer. He set it down next to the blanket, aligning it with the other four they have already emptied.

"Do you think the water is as cold as it was last year?" She grinned at him.

He could swear that shivers ran down his spine just when he thought about that.

"I definitely hope it is not. I caught a cold last time."

"Oooh. Poor baby."

He nudged her calf with his foot. "We had to play like six shows during the following week. It was pretty annoying," he defended himself.

Her head had swayed a little from side to side in consideration before she nudged him right back. "No one forced you to go there."

"True." Calum had to nod in agreement. His hand then lifted up again as he went to make a point. "But! I am not a quitter."

"Yeah. So you got cold because you are dumb and don't know that sometimes it is for the best."

Calum let out a deep sigh. "You are so mean."

She had patted his head in a soothing manner before she turned around. He watched her step closer to the water. A smile began to grow on his lips as his eyes followed her, chuckling quietly when one of her feet sank into the sand deeper than she had expected, and she stumbled.

"How is it?" He called out when she got close enough, so the waves touched her feet.

His brows furrowed when for a moment he received no reaction at all. The only sound he could hear was the one made by the waves, and she didn't give him just a simple thumb up over her shoulder either.

She simply ended up pulling her shirt over her head and Calum's face lit up again. For sure, she was going to regret dropping it into the sand because that shit gets everywhere but in that moment she didn't care at all.

Just when she started tugging her pants down as well, Calum heard a buzzing noise beside him. Her phone was left on the blanket, and he could see that she got a new text.

He called out for her, letting her know someone messaged her but she simply waved her hand. It didn't matter now.

Any other time, Calum would let it be. He would just pick himself to join her, not give her phone a single look.

Could it be from the boy she was texting earlier? This guy who volunteers in a pet shelter and does charity marathons? This guy, who made her smile so bright that it made Calum's heart ache a little?

He wasn't the type of person to ever snoop in someone's phone. That would be a validation of privacy. And that is never cool.

The screen was still lit up, though, the notification simply there for anyone to see even when they didn't try so hard.

Calum allowed his eyes to wander there just for a second.

It's a bummer we can't be together tonight. Have fun with your parents!

He didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't this. She wasn't with her parents? She was with him... Why would she lie about it? Why would she spend tonight with him when Mr. Perfect was clearly interested in hanging out with her?

His mind had turned into even a bigger mess than it was earlier. Not even the generous gulp of his drink helped him with that.

When he stood up, his shirt and his pants were both left at their blanket, and she was already waist down in the water.

"Fuck. That's cold," he hissed, and she chuckled from her spot meters away from him.

"Just for a second. You won't even feel it in a moment. It's nice," she promised. As if to prove her point, she disappeared under the water and swam a bit further from the shore.

As stated before, Calum was not a quitter and therefore he decided to just follow her.

Once he got a bit deeper, it did turn out to be okay, the hair on the back of his neck no longer standing up.

"Took you long enough," she snickered once he finally got to her level. In response, Calum splashed some water at her. Nothing makes someone shut up as good as a splash of saltwater landing in their mouth.

Their bodies floated on the water for a while, both of them covered in goosebumps as the night breeze touched their wet skin. It was worth it. The night sky looked absolutely beautiful.

She was emerged in admiring it, enjoying the feeling of absolute peace when the waves shifted her body around with the night sky above her. That's why she didn't notice he disappeared under water. And when he suddenly tickled her side, she sank under the surface as well.

"Asshole," she complained, coughing out some water when they both stood face to face again. Standing maybe not being the best term, as they both moved their feet to stop themselves from sinking. Even Calum reached the ground only on his tiptoes.

"Sorry," he chuckled and wiped his eyes to get the water out from them. He then pulled her closer to him, one arm carefully wrapping around her waist to keep her close.

"Sorry," Calum repeated, his thumb brushing over her skin in a calming manner.

She sent him a glare anyway. This sort of childish one, that only made one's heart turn all soft.

He placed his lips to her wet forehead in a kiss and then left them there when he muttered out another apology.

All was well. She was fine and there were no grudges held against him. That was evident when she moved her hand to his neck.

If this was a romantic movie about two friends falling in love, or if they were a couple, this would be the moment when he would kiss her. She would wrap her legs around his waist, and they would passionately make out in the moonlight.

But this was not a movie and they weren't lovers.

They were only friends.

"Guess I am your daddy, huh?" Calum broke off the silence.

It had taken her a moment before she understood what he meant.

"First of all," she said, pulling away so she would get a good look at him, "I can't believe you really just said that. And second... You read my texts?"She pushed him slightly.

"I read just the one he sent now. He hopes you have a good time with your parents."

"I just panicked, okay?" She defended herself and pulled her hand away from him. The spot immediately felt way too cold without it. "He blurted it out basically out of nowhere. I am sorry."

"Oh no... Don't be. It's fine," he chuckled and shook his head. "I'll be your daddy any time." Calum winked at her and then let out a wince when she kicked him under water.

"You brought this onto yourself!" He said after her when she started swimming away, closer to the beach.

***

When they both made it out of the water, they were both shivering.

Calum turned around when she slipped out of her wet underwear. It was a struggle not to laugh too much when he heard her complain about the sand that got into her clothes.

He saw that coming.

They picked up their blanket and all the trash before abandoning the beach.

She was scooted as close to him as possible while they walked back to the house in hopes to keep herself warm.

He promised to prepare her a cup of tea while she would be in the shower.

The sand from her pants 'got fucking everywhere'.

"Very charming. I am delighted to know that. If you require any help..."

He heard her slam the door loudly and simply put the kettle on.

They met in the bedroom twenty minutes later, both of them clean from the shower, she was already comfortably settled on her side of the bed. The cup he made her carefully held in her hands. She had her favourite sleep shirt on, along with some basketball shorts he could swear that once belonged to him.

"It's really good," she commented, referring to the tea.

Cal smiled at her and nodded his head. "I tried." He tossed the wet towel he just used to dry his hair over the back of the chair and then climbed onto the bed beside her.

She let him take a sip of the drink he had made her and it sure felt nice when the warm tea ran down his throat.

Not as nice when she placed it aside and curled her body close to his. His arm automatically bounded around her and he could smell the shower gel and shampoo she used.

This was always his favourite moment of their anti-valentine get away. Holding on to her as they lay in bed, both of them ready to go to sleep but not just yet.

There was something so intimate and delicate about that.

He has never experienced this with anyone else. He did like it. More than he ever thought he would. He liked when they were both talked about whatever was on their mind when he felt her laugh in his arms. And he always loved the moment when the sleepiness got the best of her and he heard and felt her breathing slow down as she felt asleep nuzzled to him.

However, there was something stopping him from enjoying this moment as much as he usually did.

There was something about this whole Mr. Perfect situation, about some guy wanting to spend Valentine's night with her just made him feel... He didn't even know how. There was a pit in his stomach. Worries about how this perfect guy maybe is going to spend the next one with her filled his mind. He sounded like a cool person to have around. Calum should be happy for her.

But he despised it.

She deserved someone nice. He hated seeing her hang out with assholes. When she was seeing them though, he didn't have to worry about losing her.

"You could have told him the truth, you know? You could have told him you are spending time with me."

She scoffed slightly. "Right..."

"Friends spend Valentine together all the time." He shrugged.

"Yeah, people who are just friends sometimes do," she agreed.

Calum gulped.

There was just one single thing they never talked about. Never.

Not when they almost kissed. Not even the morning after he showed up at her doorstep. He was drunk and babbled about how she is the only girl he can ever imagine himself to truly be with.

And now she brought it up.

Just like that.

#5sos #5sos imagine #5sos fic #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer imagines #5 seconds of summer fic #5 seconds of summer imagine #5sos fanfic #5 seconds of summer fanfic #calum hood #calum hood imagine #calum hood fic #calum hood fanfic

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mitchsmarners · 5 years

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status pending.

Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier (Reddie) | Chapter Two | 2.1k

Richie stalled for a moment, lowering his phone away from his face and looking up at Stan across the room. His best friend was tossing clothes into his drawers, re-packing up his childhood bedroom after getting home from university.

“Hey so,” Richie cleared his throat awkwardly, hands starting to shake. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”

[or: Richie makes a joke. Eddie responds outside the realm of expectation and now not one person has any fucking idea what’s going on at all.]

“Are you nervous?” Stan asked slowly, eyeing Richie cautiously. His best friend had gone through three separate outfits before settling on a surprisingly tame outfit of a stripped maroon and black shirt, tucked into black shorts. Richie had gone with wearing his thick rimmed glasses that day, even going as far as to highlight his water line with eye liner than Stan didn’t even know his best friend owned, and even Stan had to admit he looked good.

Richie had his fingers tugging on a couple of his tighter curls so they would match the way the rest fell more softly, and his eyes went wide. “What? Why would I be nervous? What are you talking about?”

Stan gave Richie a look that implied he was crazy, which was a look that Richie had received a great many times in his life. “Uh, because you asked Eddie out as joke and he said yes and this is the first time you’re going to see him since?”

Richie swallowed audibly, a scratched at his now flushed cheek. “I… Eddie must know that I was just joking. I’ve been jokingly flirting with him since we were kiddos, he’s never taken it seriously before.”

Stan raised his eyebrows. “Where you jokingly flirting with him- or were you flirting with him for real, and he never took it seriously so you just played it off as jokes?”

Richie tossed his little black pencil eyeliner towards Stan and it pegged him in the middle of the forehead. Stan let out an annoyed whine, and rubbed at the quickly reddening spot. “Because I’ve never seen you put so much effort into looking good before, so I’m going to lean towards assuming it’s because you’re at least kind of hoping Eddie was serious about saying yes and you want to look good when you see him.”

“I’ll have you know, Staniel,” Richie said in mock-haughty voice, all while grinning wildly. “That I’ve become the fashion icon I was always meant to be in California. The place has done wonders for me.”

Stan knew at least that much was true, he’d noticed it himself, and decided his best course of action was simply let Richie stew in his own denial. Turning away, Stan didn’t notice Richie’s phone pinging or the pale look of panic that crossed his face when he looked at it.

Eddie Kaspbrak has himself listened as in a relationship with you! Do you wish to confirm? Mark as Spam.

Richie swallowed roughly, twisting his head over his shoulder and glancing at Stan’s going through his own belongings to find something to wear that day. It was the first day of summer that all the Losers would be back in Derry, which meant it was going to be a lit party without fail. There wasn’t any true reason that they needed to look good, but they all liked to anyway.

Richie turned back around and confirmed Eddie’s relationship request.

Eddie looked good, but that wasn’t anything new or surprising to Richie. He’d grown his hair out since moving from Derry- no doubt an argument with his mother when she saw him- and there were now soft curls around his ears. It seemed Eddie had ditched his pastels and khakis when he’d gotten to New York, now rocking some ripped black jeans and a Nirvana T-shirt so oversized Richie had to wonder when Eddie had stolen it from him, matching with an acid washed denim jacket tossed over himself despite the discomfort it must have brought him in the summer heat. He even had a navy green coloured beanie pressed over his curls, one that Richie knew he had kept from his ex-boyfriend, Martin, when they’d broken up around Thanksgiving.

Martin had been some douchebag musician, that everybody had told Eddie wasn’t good enough for him and Eddie hadn’t listened through their entire relationship. He’d cheated on Eddie while he’d been away for school, claiming it to be great inspiration for a song. Eddie seemed to have taken it in great stride, and been more than happy to continued wearing all the clothes he’d brought with him to school that belonged to the scum bag.

“Hi,” Eddie said, beaming up at Richie and seeming a little bit breathless. The smile that came across Eddie’s face made Richie’s heart feel a little tense.

“Did anybody tell you that it’s summer?” Richie asked lightly, reaching out and rubbing at the winter hat on Eddie’s head. “You must be roasting.”

Eddie knocked Richie’s hand away from his hat, and after only a moment of hesitating, he pulled their hands together to their sides and tangled their fingers together. Richie’s gaze dropped down to their hands in surprise, smiling at how small Eddie’s hand looked in his. It was a sight Richie could definitely get used to.

“HEY! Idiots!” Beverly’s voice came out to them, seemingly endlessly amused. Richie startled, moving to pull his hand away from Eddie’s but Eddie’s grip on him tightened and he couldn’t. Eddie tugged on Richie’s hand and they turned to follow the others, walking hand-in-hand. Neither of them saw Mike pulled out his phone and snap a photo of them from behind, but they supposed they couldn’t be surprised.

When Richie connected to the Denbroughs house WiFi, his phone was immediately blowing up. Heart racing, Richie yanked at his phone only to catch Eddie doing the same. Some how it hadn’t occurred to Richie that confirming Eddie’s relationship request would have created a post on their Facebook timelines- and thus, an utter uproar. In just the short hour since Richie had confirmed it, it had racked up a whopping 178 reactions and 26 comments.

Elizabeth Ripsom: AYYYYY IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!!

Edward Corcoran: im still trying to decide if this is a best friends thing or a gay thing

Martin Campbell: ??????????????????????????????

Richie couldn’t help smiling slightly at the distress comment from Eddie’s shitty ex, penned out a quick just because it’s a best friends thing, why should that ever mean it isn’t gay? in response to Eddie Corcoran and just as he was about to lock his phone it pinged with another notification.

Mike Hanlon tagged you in a photo!

Frowning, Richie clicked it open and found himself staring down at a picture of himself from not even twenty minutes earlier, hand-in-hand with Eddie. Richie had his head turned to the side, grinning widely while Eddie seemed to be mid-sentence. Richie could practically see the heart eyes emoji pasted over his face, and it made him cringe. Mike’s caption was a very simple “we stan” with a heart eyes emoji companying it, and Richie couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he noticed the image had already gotten more than 30 likes in the past minute.

“This is hot gossip for everybody, huh?” Richie forced out a chuckle. He looked around at his friends, who all seemed to be giving him different levels of confused looks while Mike grinned deeply at him.

Eddie let out an excited noise, looking at his own phone. “Oh, Mike! That’s so fucking cute, I love it!”

Richie startled, remembering how much Eddie had protested ever taking photos with Martin. They’d had a few selfies together on Eddie’s phone- that he’d purged over Skype with Richie after the break up- but he’d never allowed them online. He posted pictures of Martin- all also purged- onto his Instagram pretty often, but it was never pictures of them together.

“I’ll give you ten bucks to make that your profile picture, Eddie,” Beverly said, already tossing her backpack onto the Denbrough’s couch.

Eddie laughed, turning his phone screen around to show her the Facebook app. “Jokes on you, I was doing it anyway- but I’ll still take the ten bucks.”

Beverly shrugged, pulling her wallet out. “I’m not even mad.” She said, handing a cheek-looking Eddie the bill. Richie shook his head, confused, and sat onto the arm of the armchair Eddie was sitting in. He leaned over slightly just enough to watch Eddie’s profile load the new profile picture… the picture of them, holding hands.

Eddie tilted his head back and smiled up at Richie. Richie, suddenly feeling unable to control his body, snatched the toque off Eddie’s head and quickly placed it onto his own. Eddie chuckled slightly, rolling his eyes.

“That clashes with your outfit horribly,” Eddie pointed out, stretching out and letting his arm come to rest on Richie’s knee. His fingers rubbed at the bare skin almost absentmindedly, staring up at Richie as though he were some sort of interesting find under a microscope. It made Richie’s skin sting a little bit where Eddie touched him.

“When have I ever cared about my outfit matching?” Richie laughed, dropping his hand on top of Eddie’s. Simply for the purpose to get Eddie to stop moving his damn fingers.

Eddie raised his brow, smiling slightly. He tilted his head to the side, head nearly resting on Richie’s arm and Richie’s breath caught in his throat. “Your outfit seems to match pretty nicely today.”

“That’s alllll for you, darling,” Richie said with a waggle of his brow. Flirting with Eddie was something he could definitely do. Something he was more than good at, something he’d been doing his whole life. He leaned in towards Eddie the way he always would, but froze when Eddie seemed to lean back towards him.

“Are we getting high or not?” Stan cut through him, maybe in a classic Stan fashion, but also maybe because he saw the panic that rushed across Richie’s face. The room still erupted in excited responses, but Richie got caught up in Eddie’s acceptance.

“Really?” He asked, leaning forward to Eddie. His arms moved comfortably around Eddie’s mid-section, letting him slip in behind Eddie and holding Eddie close. “You know you don’t ever have to.”

“I know,” Eddie said, twisting his head to look at Richie. “I got really curious about it at school, but I wanted the first time I tried it to be with you guys.”

Richie couldn’t think of a good response to that, so he settled with squeezing Eddie like a child would hug their stuffed animal for comfort. Eddie tilted his head back in an almost unnatural angle to kiss Richie’s cheek lightly.

Bill made a loud gagging noise, throwing some sort of flannel shirt that was resting at the couch at them. “You two muh-make me sick.”

“Don’t hate us just because you’re not us,” Richie called over, pressing a too loud and too wet kiss to Eddie’s forehead for show. It was the type of thing Richie had always done, but instead of Eddie squawking and pushing Richie away, he let out a small laugh and actually leaned in closer to Richie’s body. Richie wondered if Eddie could feel how his heart was pounding.

Richie wasn’t quite sure what possessed him to turn down the bong when it came around to him, but he was beyond thankful for it as he rubbed at Eddie’s back while the poor boy was throwing up into Bill’s bedside garbage. Eddie had brought the whole basket up to rest in his lap, and every Losers had disappeared to sit on the front porch once Eddie had started puking.

Richie had known that last bong was a mistake for Eddie- he shouldn’t have tried to keep up Bev and Stan in terms of smoking, anymore than somebody should try to keep up with Ben in terms of drinking- and Richie had said as much to Eddie. This didn’t feel particularly like a good I told you so moment, so Richie held his tongue and made a point to say it to Eddie later.

He was still rubbing Eddie’s back when the door creaked open and Ben came in. He gave a soft smile and shook his head. “How are we doing?”

Eddie groaned something unintelligently, and Richie patted his back once before standing and walking over towards Ben. Richie let out a tired sight that was beyond his control and Ben held his arms out. Richie fell forward into them, and smiled at how strongly Ben always hugged. Richie supposed that Ben’s hugs were the peak of platonic comfort.

“You’re a good boyfriend, Rich,” Ben said quietly, quietly enough that Richie knew Eddie wouldn’t be able to hear him. “I’m not going to tell anybody, I’ll tell everybody out there just you’re just sitting on your phone looking at memes.”

Richie chuckled, but had to wonder if he could be a good boyfriend, if he wasn’t sure he was a boyfriend at all.

#reddie #reddie fic #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #my writing #status pending #THEY'RE SO STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#eddie is grungey and richie is preppy and you can FUcking fight me #when youre dating your best friend but you dont know if youre ACTUALLY dating him #but youre in love with him #maybe

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lindaspark · 6 years

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the sound that we make is thunder

the westallen neighbor / enemies to friends to lovers au, nobody asked for!

(ao3)

“Your neighbor is like ridiculously hot.” Iris rose an eyebrow at her friend. “Objectively speaking because-”

“Wally is your type and you find my little brother so hot, yes I know you guys drool over each other every time one of you tags along while I’m with the other.”

“Iris!” Her friend hit, fuck pretty hardly.

“Hey, I’m just stating what I see..and besides said hot neighbor is a sad, dude who comes in late, locks himself in his apartment and stays up all night listening to music, fucking loudly, and it’s not even like basic guilty pleasure pop songs or whatever, it’s hardcore shit that doesn’t let you sleep like Fall Out Boy’s Uma Thurman.”

“Fall Out Boy’s prime to be honest.” Iris looked at Linda from her spot on her bed.

“Oh right. Not helping, have you ever tried maybe I dunno know, telling him to turn it down a bit?” Linda said while scrolling through Iris’ new article to check for odd things, things that were out of place.

Iris let out a sigh. “I just moved in, I can’t be all over the place screaming at my neighbor and telling he’s hot.” Well technically, she moved in a month ago, but yeah she didn’t want to cause some kind of fight already, she wanted to stay on the low and be invisible. And besides she barely saw him, either seeing his feet before his door slammed shut right when she got home from CCPN, or his back when he made his way out of the little building every morning at way too fucking early in the morning. And she only saw him because he made so much noise, the amount of noise he made kept her awake at night, which was good in some cases, you know to finish articles, but other times like at 5 in the morning? Not really.

Iris was so deep in thought she didn’t see the dark haired girl near her desk looking at her with smug eyes. “What?!” Iris asked with concern.

“Nothing, I was just talking about him making noise, not you telling him that you find him cute..”

“Linda!” at that Iris threw her pillow at her friend, and she responded by throwing pencils and pens from Iris’ desk. Iris ducked and the pens hit her wall pretty hard.

“You broke them Linda what the fuck!” Iris said while laughing, trying to keep herself from curling over.

Linda started out laughing too. “I’m sorry you know how competitive I can get, it’s an ex sports reporter thing.”

Iris rolled her eyes, there’s no such thing as that Linda Jasmine Park.

Oh you’re using my full name now? I see Iris Ann West. She said while standing up and slowly making her way towards her.

“No-” And then she started tickling Iris. They both screamed and laughed until something bumped or hit her wall.

“So what he can make noise at fucking 3 in the morning but you doing it at 6 pm is a problem, your hot neighbor’s shit, Iris.” Linda said while getting up, and putting on her coat.

“Told you!”

Linda laughed. “Yeah you did tell me he was hot already.”

Before Iris could throw her whole bedset at Linda, Linda made her way outside of her room, and her apartment.

Around 2 in the morning Iris woke up to the beginning of some guitar instrumental, then she felt her wall, her surroundings start vibrating, it wasn’t an instrumental he was truly playing a guitar, an electric guitar, at 3 in the morning. It was slow at first then went to town. like really just off. She was about to hit her wall repeatedly but stopped when she heard the guitar’s notes suddenly slow down to it’s initial pace, and then a soft voice, she couldn’t hear anything clearly, it was muffled, so she pressed her ear against the wall above her bed. “Her frame of steel demands a spark. Now I know that I'm protected though we're worlds apart”

And then he went hard on with the guitar, using it’s full effect and sound. Then roughly sang: When I fall. You save me baby.

Something about his range, and the change from the soft to rough tone, made her body tighten and her heart beat a bit quicker than usual.

“So your hot neighbor can also freaking sing?! What the hell Iris you hit the jackpot.” Linda said while sipping her usual from Jitters as they walked towards CCPN.

Iris scoffed. “I didn’t hit anything.”

“Yet.”

“Miss Jasmine may I remind you, you are currently this close to screwing my little brother?” Iris said while holding up her thumb and index finger to form a not yet closed circle.

Linda laughed, and it was really the best thing, she ever heard. “West, I swear to God.”

“You’re not denying it, so I guess it’s true.” said Iris while showing off her pearly whites.

“You’re lucky I love you and your brother.” The other flower told her as she slung her arm around her shoulders.

Iris’ day went by quick after that, from Scott’s approval of her article to her receiving more assignments, and a first interview opportunity, Iris was exhausted. All she wanted to do when she got home was turn on Netflix and sleep through the show she ended up choosing.

But her plans of sleeping were cut short due to the..Is he fucking kidding me, she thought.

It’s only 9:45, it’s not that late, maybe he’ll stop?

He didn’t.

It was 11 now almost 12 and his music, was still playing, way to loudly. Maybe she was overreacting, why weren’t the other neighbors complaining, or reporting this dude?

You guys are the only people to have an apartment on the last floor of the building, genius, her brain reminded her.

She tried just brushing it off, but 1 in the morning she was done with this nonsense, she needed to sleep or Linda was going to kill her hot neighbor and Scott was going to snap at her looking dead at work.

She hit her wall a couple of times. The music abruptly stopped at her banging. She heard shuffling, and then 3 loud bangs against the spot she just hit, from the other side. The jackass.

And then he actually started hitting the wall from the other side, in some kind of musical piece, rhythm?

That’s it.

Iris made her way towards her front door, and went to bang on his door, but before she could even touch the wood, he opened the door.

God. Okay hot was understatement. His hair was all rumpled, eyes, green, oh so very green, freckles dotting from his face to his neck like constellations. His eyes scanned over her face, and body. He put his arms up and held the door frame with his hands. He’s also tall. The stretching, made his sweater ride up, and give her a brief view, of his sweats hanging low and..She felt her face heat up and instantly look up.

“How may I help you?” He asked politely, not even acknowledging the childish shit he just pulled.

Iris realized her hand was still up in the air, from wanting to break his door with her knock. She pulled down her hand and tried acting casual.

“I- I came here to ask if you could turn your music, down, it’s pretty late, and some people actually have to work and do productive stuff you know so, please.”

He scoffed. “How do you know I don’t have work to do? Judgmental aren’t you newbie?”

“Excuse me, I moved in a month ago, I’m not a newbie, also pardon me for thinking the mister here, doesn’t have a job, because he spent his nights for almost every day of the month I moved in blasting, music, and singing at 3 in the morning.” She snapped back.

Give her a break, she was sleep deprived.

He blushed a bit at the mention of her hearing him sing.

He was clearly cut off guard because he stayed silent for a couple of seconds.

So instead of waiting for his reply, she said quickly “Just turn the volume a tad fucking bit? please.” Before walking quickly, almost running, back to her apartment.

Once she was in bed she heard him move around the opposite room, and lower the volume. And she smiled to herself.

Of course the next morning she woke up late.

Iris rushed to put on her clothes, pack in her laptop, put on her heels, and make-up.

Linda and Scott were going to kill her. Super. fucking duper.

She ran towards the elevator, frantically pushing the ‘rez de chaussée’ button. The doors were about to close, but a hand stopped them.

Iris unconsciously let out a loud groan, of course the neighbor she screamed at had to take the same elevator down, as her. Why did the fates hate her so much.

She tried ignoring his presence, tired ignoring his form fitting jeans, fancy little leather jacket, him running his hand through his hair, the fact that he rolled his jeans up so we could see his socks a bit, she tried ignoring them all by focusing her energy on the assignment Scott had given her for today. She had to visit? CCPD? To get inside scoop from a new CSI, that was the key to help find a big underground crime lord? Yeah that’s right, that sounds right.

she was brought out of her stressful thoughts, by a light constant tapping. Of course.

She grunted. “Can you please stop that, I’m trying to focus.”

He scoffed. “So I can’t make a bit of noise in my own home, and now I can’t make noise in the rest of this building? Guards take me away.” he said dramatically while putting the back of his hand on his forehead.

She refrained herself from snapping him into two.

“Smart, you take drama classes, alongside your how to be obnoxious and loud at night classes?

That shut him up.

The elevator finally dinged, letting them both out of their misery. Or so she thought. He had to have the last word this time.

“Well it was nice meeting you miss West.” he said right before running out of the elevator.

Miss West? How does he even know my name, she thought to herself.

It didn’t matter because just like him, she had to run, she was going to be late.

She got to CCPD, out of breath, feet sore.

She let out a breath and then she felt someone touch her shoulder lightly. She jumped at the contact.

“Iris what has gotten into you? It’s just an interview with a newbie, they won’t bite off your head.” Her father then looked down at his watch, and told her she was 15 minutes early. Iris took that as a cue to go retouch, her shitty make up, due the morning’s speed dress up game.

After fixing her eye-liner, mascara, and lipstick, she headed out. Her father pointed his head towards Singh’s, the captain's office. He’s in there.

Her father, and Scott had reminded her, that his name was Barry Allen. Okay so start with good morning Barry Allen. Yeah start with that.

She prepared her recorder and opened the door that led to Singh’s office.

Inside she found a tall man, with chestnut hair, jeans rolled up a bit at the bottom, and a familiar fancy black leather jacket, turned towards the windows.

“You.”

He turned around smiling at himself. “Miss West, what may I help you with?”

“How did you- I thought you were some kind of-?!” She let out quickly, mimicking the pace she had last night.

She stopped herself and looked at him, the jackass was holding himself back from laughing.

“How did you know my name? Were you stalking me, you creep?”

He looked at her with disbelief. “Excuse me? You’re supposed to be an investigative journalist? Yet here you are reaching so high. Well not that high considering your height and all.”

Oh that was it. She ran towards him and started hitting his shoulder.

“You. Do. Not. Get. To. Mock. Me. Music boy!” She said with every hit.

He shrieked. “Ow, Ow, OW! Dammit, stop it Iris!”

Him saying her name, made, her feel what she had felt, when she heard him sing. She pushed the feeling down, deep inside.

“Well you started it, jerk! Now tell me how you knew me before this interview, and how you knew your neighbor was going to be interviewing you?”

He rubbed the spot she just hit, wincing forcefully.

“Did you really have to hit me to ask me a simple question?”

She rose her eyebrows. And he got the hint. Shut it.

“Well it wasn’t hard, after I solved the thing, I heard the people in the office talk about this West person, that was going to interview me for my heroics or whatever. And then I remembered, that a while back someone amongst the detectives said that a person with West in their name, was about to move into my building, and live on what it is now, our floor.”

She was shocked. Kind of flattered, weirdly?

He saw her take a few moments to process everything in, and smirked.

“Stop that!” she hissed.

He looked at her innocently. “Stop what!?”

“Stop doing that thing with your eyes! Your face! Your mouth!”

“So you’re telling me to stop being me? Wow that’s harsh Iris, I thought we were on better terms than that.” he shot back with fake sad smile.

She let out a sharp scream, and dropped her arms to her side. Curling her fingers into a fist, to hold herself from strangling him.

The door behind them opened suddenly, they both jumped a bit, at the movement, Iris moving more towards Barry.

Joe poked out his head and look between the two of them.

He raised an eyebrow at Barry. “Bear, why does it look like she’s about to rip your head off?”

He put his hands up, to indicate that he had no clue, but before Joe could fully register it, Iris let out a strangled noise and screamed, quietly “He’s infuriating!”

Her dad brought or rather dragged her before she could strangle Barry, near the main hall of the department, trying to reason with her. “Iris come on, he’s a sweet guy, just tough on the outside, give him a chance, he saved a lot of people with his quick thinking.”

She was about to protest, but stopped when she saw him giving her a forced frown and puppy eyes through the glass that separated the main hall from the actual department. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back towards her dad.

“...Listen just give him a chance, and if I’m not wrong you actually need to do this for your assignment?”

She whined loudly. God why. She had completely forgotten about Scott’s assignment while arguing with that ass.

She sighed. “Okay. But I won’t do it right now, I’m tired.” He kissed her forehead and waved her goodbye.

She stood in the hall, taking out her phone to text Linda, and make her convince Scott, to give her 1 more day to get the interview. Right after she sent the message, she heard a whistling come closer towards her. She rose her head and saw him. Keys swirling on his index finger.

“So West, want to finish this interview, I can’t bear to suffer more with the sound of your voice later.”

“Actually no. You’ll have to suffer more, I’m tired, you’ve drained me completely and I need some space from you. So later.”

“Okay so come by my place at like 9 so we can get this over with.” He added nonchalantly.

She was about to open her mouth to protest once again, but he held one of his hands up in the air. “I know, I know bothering me, must really worry you but I can make time, for Joe’s daughter.”

This time she didn’t hold herself back, she rushed forward and punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow! West!-”

She turned away, walking towards the elevator.

“I know where you live! I can call the cops on you!” She could practically hear his smile.

“Well so do I, asshole!” She shot back while shoving her middle finger in the air, not needing to look back to know that half of the precinct had their mouths hanging low, and Barry holding himself back from laughing.

As the elevator doors closed she saw Barry scratching the back of his head, trying to explain to a very mad Singh why they were screaming.

A small smile find it’s way on her lips. What a dumbass.

#westallen #westallen fic #naz writes #i rlly hate myself

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zerowastecapetown · 7 years

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The 5 R’s

refuse

reduce

reuse (+repair)

recycle

rot

(In this order!)

Zero Waste starts by refusing things. Whatever you still have and use you should reduce to save resources. Substitute disposables for reusable options, and instead of tossing things repair them! Separate what little trash you have left and make sure to recycle. Compost what’s left and let it rot.

1. Refuse

Refusing will eliminate most of your trash.

Learn to say no! Say no to produce wrapped in plastic! Say no to freebies and bargains! Say no to disposables! Say not to participating in unsustainable practices!

The more we accept all those things that will inevitably end up in landfills, the more demand we generate for those unsustainable things.

Easily disposable items of low quality are cheap and we buy them because we didn’t have to spend a lot of money. But cheap things are cheap for a reason. To cut the costs, they were produced using chemicals and materials from questionable sourcing, which means very often they leech toxins! And they couldn’t be sold at such low prices if workers – very often children – weren’t exploited along the production process.

In the long run, those low-quality items will cost you even more than buying a good quality one from the start, since most are made to break easily – so you will buy a new one to replace it!

Tips

Buying in big supermarkets often mean more packaging, even in the produce section. Shop at the farmer’s market or at small local stores. They are usually also very more open to individual solutions

Take out your phone and take pictures of pamphlets or business cards. Accept the information, but not the physical item! This way you have all the crucial information on you at all times. I mean, cross my heart, I’d lose those cards anyway, but I am very careful not to lose my phone!

Freebies like pens or swag bags are tempting. VERY tempting. To be honest, I am actually a cheap person. I was brought up in a bargain hunting crazed family. We would spend a LOT of money on useless cheap things just because they were a steal. What helped me resist the temptation to always grab everything free within my arm’s reach was to remind myself of the horrible carbon footprint, the exploitation of workers, and how in the end, those things will be come clutter and a problem. Too useless to keep, too “good” to throw away.

2. Reduce

I always thought that it was only me. Every time I opened my closet and I saw all the unworn pieces of clothing, I felt bad. Just a while back when I started to get rid of 80% of my wardrobe I asked around, and it turned out that it’s a very normal phenomenon!

We all have a lot of things at home we never use. Some of them we haven’t even ever unpacked! Why? Because we buy on impulse. We see something, in that specific moment we like it, and bam, we bought it. However, the novelty and joy of having it wears out very quickly and then it’s just another item we have at home that doesn’t add any value to our life.

Also, reduce your overall consumption. But if you actually refuse everything that comes packaged in plastic you will have anyway.

Pare down and give your things a second life

All those things you are not using or do not really need had to be produced at one point. It’s a waste of resources to have them collect dust at your home. Donate or sell them. This way, someone else can reuse your things instead of buying new products, using up more resources.

You can donate your things to Good Will, or you can give them away using local Facebook groups. You can also sell clothes and electronics on ebay, Craigslist, at a flea market or host a garage sale. Nowadays, there are more and more swap parties where you can swap your unwanted stuff with one another. Everybody leaves happy and nobody had to spend a dime :).

Simplify your life

Clever marketing campaigns and TV ads have taught us that we have a lot of needs, and that there is at least one uber specialized product for each of our crazy needs. I used to have a face cream for daytime (for super sensitive skin), another one for nighttime (extra rich), another one for winter (daytime), another one for summer (daytime), another aqua-something one called night-repair, then an anti-aging eye cream (with Q10), a daytime eye cream with SPF, a super moisturizing eye cream (nighttime)… I could go on and on and on, but, you get the idea ;).

Now I only use oils we also use for cooking. Usually that’s sunflower seed, olive and coconut oil. I usually break out very easily and some of those uber creams left my skin read and ichty for weeks. I’ve been using mainly oil (I did use up some of my lotions and creams) for a year now and my skin has never been better!

We only use white vinegar and sometimes a bit of baking soda for cleaning, and we use alep soap to wash our entire body (hands, face, body, feet – everything), our clothes and our dishes (we make detergent out of alep soap and baking soda). You can even use alep soap to wash your hair if you use vinegar (1/4 cup vinegar + 1 cup of water) to rinse it afterwards. That’s all you need to keep yourself and your home clean. No more toxins and a lot more cupboard space where our army of cleaning products used to be!

3. Reuse (and repair)

Disposables are, well, disposable. Which means you have to buy them over and over. Which in turn means you keep spending money on things that you will throw away. You might as well throw away your money directly. At least that would have a better carbon footprint…

It’s very easy to replace disposables:

Disposable razors – electric shaver, straight-edge razor, double-blade razor

Cotton rounds – washable cotton rounds

Tissues – handkerchiefs

Paper towels – microfibre or cotton cloths

Paper napkins – cloth napkins (or just use handkerchiefs)

Dish sponge – cotton cloth

Tea bags – loose tea and a tea strainer/ french press

Coffee pads/ filter cones – french press/ reusable coffee filter cones or pads

Baking parchment – grease the cake pan/ silicon mat

Tin foil/ cling film – put it in a food container or jar, or wrap it in a dish towel

Paper bags/ plastic bags – bring your own cloth/ tote bag

Disposable lunch bags – stainless steel food containers, mason jars, dish towels

Bottled water – a good quality glass or stainless steel water bottle (preferably plastic-free or at least BPA-free) and tap water; if you do not trust tap water cook it beforehand (you use it for cooking anyway, right)

Toothpicks – turkey lacers

Muffin paper liners – grease your muffin tray

Trash bags/ bin liners – at some point you might not need those anymore ;), until then go for newspaper origami

Cleaning wipes – microfibre or cotton cloth and your homemade vinegar cleaning solution (1/4 cup distilled vinegar + 1 cup of water)

Toilet paper – a bottle, water, soap and a washcloth

Also, pack your lunches in reusable food containers and shop with reusables.

If things break, repair them or have them repaired. Mend clothes, upcycle items you would otherwise toss. Buy second hand and remember: some things you don’t have to actually own, it’s sufficient to have access (i.e. movies, music, library, tools, or even cars or office space).

4. Recycle

After you have refused, reduced, and reused there shouldn’t be much left to recycle. Still, make sure to separate your trash so that those resources can be reused instead of filling our landfills.

5. Rot

Don’t just throw your kitchen scraps away! Get a worm bin and let those little fellows turn your waste into high-quality fertilizer! It’s the most efficient and local form of recycling where the trash doesn’t even need to be transported wasting fuel and whatnot ;).

I’ve got worms! Red worms to be specific XD

You will find a ton of videos on youtube showing you how you can set up a worm bin (also try searching for “worm composting system” or “vermicomposting system”). Here’s a wiki on it.

We’ve had our wooden worm bin for half a year now. We keep it in the kitchen since that’s the best temperature for the worms. It does not smell and especially children find it very fascinating. It’s very educational too, since it is, in fact, a very own ecosystem! A worm bin does require taking care of it, but it’s definitely less time-consuming than bringing out the trash every couple of days.

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andrewuttaro · 5 years

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New Look Sabres: GM 1 - PIT - Lies?

Do you feel lied to? I got to say I don’t feel lied to. I know we had a coach and GM who both sold us on the idea there would be competition for roster spots and here we are looking at an opening night roster that looks awfully similar to last season. Were we lied to? This is hazardous territory for an optimist. I risk coming across like I just defend the organization at every turn. Perhaps I am less prone to join the pity aboard the latest hashtag fire this guy bandwagon. At that point, I minus well just apply for an PR position. Admittedly I was late to the Fire Housley Party and history shows the earlier you hopped on that one the smarter you appear. I was proposing ways the Sabres could make the playoffs well into February last season. You could’ve argued the season was over in December or January even with the win streak. Life is just too full of truly awful shit for me to then turn to my favorite sports team and say: “You lied to me! You Suck!” Marco Scandella is a bad player but he’s also a douchebag in real life. I would love for him not to be on my favorite hockey team, but do I feel like dragging myself along the hot, sharp rocks of pessimism after spending my day trying to figure out why Congress has decided party over country is the new norm? No. You see, no matter how bad this Sabres team gets I am going to look at them optimistically. Yeah, I’ll sprinkle in both the realism and the pessimism a lot of days, but the base ingredient will always be optimism because why would I watch sports to be more miserable? You take sports too seriously and it just becomes another source of misery which is bad for the stuff that actually matters in your life.

That was a rant, but it was also a long way of saying I think we’re underestimating this roster. They can be 100% the same players as last year and still be good. There are too many variables in this game to insist results will be the same; especially with a new coach. That’s leaving out the fact that although the win streak was a statistical anomaly on par with the first of the Meg, it doesn’t happen unless you got the horses to do it in the first place. Spoiler Alert: The Meg gets skewered by Jason Statham at the end. The same happened to the first half beast of the Buffalo Sabres last season. Even as the skewering was occurring last year we beat a Penguins team, which by the way also looks strikingly similar to last year’s club minus Phil Kessel, wait for it… twice! The Sabres beat the Pens twice last year including once when Pittsburgh was gunning for a playoff spot. Tonight was the first night of what I think will be a surprisingly good Sabres season. Here is a fact: the Buffalo Sabres had not won a season opener since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season. Tonight they hung a 3-1 multi-goal loss on the Pittsburgh Penguins not only winning their season opener; but taking advantage of an opposing team very much not having a good night. That alone is a beautiful if it is a sign of things to come.

There is so much I could say about just being thankful for a great Sabres broadcast crew, new 50th Anniversary promos and throwback highlights but I said I don’t want to look like a Kool-aid drinker. The only big lie tonight was me casting dispersions that I’m anything other than a big old sucker for this club. They were fun from the word go in this first game! Five minutes in the Pens gave up a defensive zone turnover and Casey Mittelstadt turned the play around. He maneuvered the puck to Conor Sheary who sniped one past Matt Murray to put the visitors up 1-0! I thought I was seeing things that first period as Buffalo skated circles around the home team. There were more chances too. The yet untitled Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart line looked dangerous. They looked dangerous and repeatedly connected on passes you can’t imagine will not lead to goals much longer. This game was also breakaway after breakaway. Apparently Kris Letang and the Pens defense has not been the same brick wall of old; it seemed like every time you turned around a fourth liner was taking a one-on-one shot with the goalie. Of course the first couple times it was Girgensons and Okposo so of course no conversion. In the third Olofsson got a similar opportunity and almost sunk it but we’ll get there.

Something happened in the second period that was very on narrative for Sabres twitter of the last several days since Training Camp ended: a Sobotka flub. Our old pal Vlad put his glove on the puck and gave Pittsburgh their first powerplay opportunity of the game. I would tell you this was evidence of the lie of the coaching staff we talked about earlier, but Jason Botterill backed up his guy in a pregame interview making it very clear the philosophy of this team is veterans first. To call the roster competition promise a lie is misleading, it was always about the veterans whether we knew it or not. I’m not pleased about it either but hopefully these incidents on the ice teach them a lesson. Evgeni Malkin did that task scoring an equalizer on the resulting powerplay. When you concede a goal to the Pens, especially an equalizer you have to be careful not to let the game get away from you. Luckily tonight the Sabres did just that and although the counterattack surely came, the defense held up. Namely Henri Jokiharju’s regular season Sabres debut showed his potential. He can get pucks out of the zone... AND he wins puck battles. This defensive depth was effective and fun tonight but geez the time on ice still reeked of a decade of futility. I would say I don’t know who will take all these defensive minutes once Ristolainen is inevitably traded but that’d be stupid: there’s at least 4 guys just on that side of the defense who can take those minutes. The Sabres survived the Pens and even started to dominate. Casey and Conor connected on the powerplay this time with a little over five minutes left in the second. I nearly dropped my Hard Cider: Sheary got a rebound and redirected it around Murray like he was doing some kind of Jeff Skinner impression. Retaking the lead was fun but what happened in the last minute of that middle frame was downright arousing.

Rasmus Dahlin scored a dangle goal that will surely be in this season’s highlight pack next Spring. Sam Reinhart and our Swedish wonder-boy skated into the zone on another surprising breakaway and passed it. Dahlin deked, dangled and put it top shelf. Samson was still going in hard thinking he’d have a rebound to tap in. No sir, this was just a grade-A certified beauty. Going into the second intermission I fought off the feelings this could be a rout. You figure the Stanley Cup caliber counterattack the Pens were known for would show up. It just never came. The breakaways just kept coming and now the big names were starting to get them. Victor Olofsson bounced one off the post! Albeit no Sabre scored on a breakaway in one of the most breakaway heavy games I’ve seen in a while. As the minutes dragged on it became more and more real. Then one soft penalty gave the Pens one last shot. Fans had booed them and were filing out of the building and… they didn’t capitalize. The Sabres took care of business and won this game 3-1 in regulation. I’m sure we’re in for several games this team loses against inferior competition this season but it’s nice to hope this could be the standard for the coming months. Let’s jut enjoy this. Conor Sheary scored his fifth goal against his former club and his second multi-goal game against them! Real Penguin killer, eh? This was the first Sabre season-opening win since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season when Brian Flynn and Steve Ott were on this team. It was the first win in a coaching debut since 1997! That last stat is a little irrelevant, but I thought Krueger deserved some love after the hell we’ve been given him. When the Sabres lost in a shutout in the season opener last year I said I never take first games of the season too seriously. I’ll hold any declarative statements for another day but gee, this game gave me hope!

All of the 50th anniversary stuff on the broadcast got me thinking: I ought to do something special for this season. So here’s my idea: every divisional game this season, the first being next Wednesday against Montreal, I ask all you guys what was the most significant game the Sabres played against them. I think it could be fun to look back on some history. I’ll be at the home opener on Saturday and the Fan Fest starting at 5 beforehand. Shoot me a DM, drop a comment here or send a carrier pigeon to me if you want to meet up. If you are even remotely inclined to do such a thing you should also drop a like and share this blog around. This postgame stuff happens after every single Sabres game if you’re new here. Sometimes I can’t get it done same night but always before the next game. I hope you enjoyed what you got tonight. I can’t wait to see where this goes! Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. For the record, that Season Preview I did for Southtowns Tickets was submitted before the final roster and paper moves. The collective angst of Sabres twitter hadn’t blown up to DEFCON 4 at that point; it was more of a dull roar when I wrote that article.

#buffalo sabres #nhl #hockey #blog #pittsburgh penguins

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knifeshoeoreofight · 7 years

Photo

So the above photos, this tweet, and some spirited conversations in the group chat led to this ficlet. Much contribution from @sidsknee and @ehghtyseven, the best bits were their ideas. Make sure you take a look at @sidsknee‘s AO3 here.

Unbeta’d!

Shape of You

Geno feels like shit. The ice packs the trainers sent him back to the hotel with have gone warm. They’re going to take ages to refreeze in the tiny freezer of his mini fridge; and in the meantime, he’d like to maybe sleep, at some point. Their flight tomorrow is at ass’o’clock in the morning. He can’t wait to be back home. This entire road trip has been hellish, with tonight's game the worst of all.

He tosses the ice packs aside with a curse and heads out to the ice machine. It’ll be far from the first time he’s jury-rigged an ice pack with the flimsy ice bucket liner. He could probably call the front desk, but hockey star or no, he feels kinda shitty making people run around doing stuff that he can do himself. Quickly and easily and without talking to other humans: his ideal mode of operation after a hard loss.

Thankfully their floor is quiet. Most of the guys are either quietly decompressing in their rooms or out trying to party their woes away. Thankfully they hadn’t tried to drag their captain along. Heaven knows he loves a night out, but, just, not now.

When he turns the hallway corner by the ice machine area, however, he stops short. There’s someone dithering in front of the vending machines. The first thing he notices is the loudly patterned pajama pants. Nothing but the Pens logo, over and over.

And then.

Now, Geno spends all of his time around hockey players and the women who gravitate to hockey players. He’s seen some fantastic asses in his time. His own, too, is a source of pride. Geno perhaps considered himself an expert in aesthetically pleasing backsides.

He was wrong.

The ass blessing those pajama pants is the most glorious thing he’s ever seen.

And then his eyes move up, past a sweet dip into a solid looking waist, then is almost surprised at the broad shoulders stretching the thin T-shirt the person is wearing. Very broad, very heavy shoulders. Damn.

Now Geno would typically never approach a fan like this. That way lies headaches for Pens PR, and NDAs, and possibly restraining orders. But.

FUCK.

He clears his throat. “Nice pants.”

And Angel Ass turns around. The first thing Geno sees is that the faded, too-small sleep shirt he’s wearing has Geno’s own name and likeness on it. Geno grins, suddenly giddy.

“ I’m like shirt better though,” he says. Angel Ass makes a strangled noise, and then Geno tears his gaze from his own silhouette stretched across perfect pecs and meets his eyes. Angel Ass’s face is white, and he looks partly like he can’t believe what’s happening and partly like he wants to sink through the floor and die. Geno, on the other hand, thinks he might be the one hallucinating. Angel Ass has stunning hazel eyes and a mouth that’s pure sin. Messy black curls and cheekbones Geno’s seen before on supermodels. All the hopes and plans he has of trying to be funny, or clever, or maybe even communicating in English evaporate. Hell, he’s not even sure of his Russian at the moment.

“You guys were staying in this hotel?” Angel Ass squeaks out. Pale shock leaves his face as his cheeks flood crimson. Then, softly: “oh fuck me.”

A fantastic idea, Geno thinks wildly. “What’s your name? Can I buy you drink?” He manages. “At bar, downstairs. You tell me where you buy pants. I’m want some too I think.” The pants, he sees, that are pooling over Angel Ass’s bare feet in a way that’s really cute and oddly vulnerable.

“Sid,” Sid says, glancing down shyly. “And, uh, for sure.” He looks up quickly, horrified. “Oh God, not in these clothes though. Holy shit.”

Geno laughs delightedly. “Everybody will say I am most...what’s word?” He snaps his fingers, annoyed that the word doesn’t come.

The corner of Sid’s mouth twitches up a little. Oh, he’s so lovely. “Egotistical? Self-absorbed?”

“Yes!” Geno grins.”I’m best, but have to pretend I’m not know.” He mimes a face of exaggerated false modestly, and Sid giggles. There's nothing else to call it. It sounds like if a waterbird could giggle. Geno is hopelessly charmed. “Meet you here? Five minutes. I’m wait.” Sid nods, blushing even more, then books it down the hall. Geno manages not to gape after him as he goes. It takes supreme effort and Geno is righteously proud of himself.

It takes Sid most of the way through two beers to really relax. By that point, Geno’s got him talking hockey, and Sid is actually astonishingly perceptive. Geno’s swinging wildly between being really fucking turned on by his knowledge and intensity and just kinda melting like a sap at how cute Sid is.

Geno’s got his chin propped in one hand, unable to take his eyes off of Sid as he expounds on the issues with the Pens’ second powerplay unit. He’s still flushed, from the beer and his passion for hockey now instead of embarrassment. Geno is grateful none of his teammates are in the bar, because the face he’s probably making at Sid would likely be a fineable offence. But Geno can’t help it.

Sid’s started in on a particularly technical explanation involving both of their glasses, a couple of beer mats, and three peanuts filched from the dish on the bar. One of which Geno steals and eats in a bid to try and look less moony and besotted. Sid frowns at him.

“You just...ate Kris Letang.”

“Not enough salt to be Tanger. Too boring, is probably Phil,” Geno retorts, and Sidney laughs, expression warm. Geno acts on impulse and lays his hand over Sid’s on the table between them.

“You give me number? See you again when we back in Columbus?” Geno’s throat feels tight. He can’t lose Sid right after meeting him like this.

Sid’s eyes are shining, and he turns his hand under Geno’s to lace their fingers together. “Uh, actually? I’m on a business trip. I’m usually based in Pittsburgh.” Geno almost can’t believe it. He feels like he did when he was drafted. Like what’s happening right now is too good to be real.

“You go to games? Wear jersey? Wear my jersey?” Geno asks, voice low. Sid stares at him, pupils blown wide.

Then, blandly, the little shit: “Of course not. Fleury’s more important than you any day.” Geno throws back his head and laughs.

“I’m buy you,” he tells Sid. “Buy you all of my jersey.” Which doesn’t make that much sense, but, whatever. He’s not really talking about buying Sid clothes. The subtext is: he wants Sid to be his. Heaven knows he already feels like Sid’s, even after a scant two hours in his presence.

Sid raises his chin. “Yeah?” His expression says he knows exactly what Geno’s not saying. “I’ll hold you to that, eh?”

Geno has to, he just does. After a quick scan of the room to make sure nobody’s paying attention, he leans over and brushes his lips just barely to the side of Sid’s mouth. When Sid blinks at him, he shrugs. “I’m Russian. Emotional guy. Sometimes we just kissing people.” Sid looks at him for a long moment, then reaches in his pocket, tosses something on the table, and abruptly gets up. Geno rises to beg him to come back, or to apologize, but then he sees what Sid threw down. It’s...a room key.

Geno has to sit down for a moment, clutching the key to his heart. The loss is a distant memory. His bruises and aches don’t even register. He, Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin, is the luckiest motherfucker on the planet.

(Author’s Note: cut to Geno lying in bed staring at the ceiling, Sid asleep on his chest, wondering how soon is too soon to ask someone to marry you. Fun fact: he manages to control himself for an entire year of dating but did keep a ring in his sock drawer from their two-month anniversary onwards. And then he loves his husband for a thousand reasons, only one of which is his Perfect Ass)

#sidgeno #sidney crosby/evgeni malkin #hockey rpf #dana writes a thing

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gaparime · 7 years

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Let's Talk About Gear!

While mental fortitude is ultimately what will make or break your success in completing a long distance hike, gear is equally as imperative. I began my thruhike of the Appalachian Trail by carrying 30 pounds (exactly 30.0 on the scale at Amicalola) and received a shakedown to 20, give or take a few pounds here and there depending on food and water supply, and my replacements/upgrades throughout the first quarter of the trail.

During your planning process for a thruhike or any kind of a long distance backpacking trip, it’s important to remember that there’s usually no right or wrong for good, necessary products. Albeit, you still want to use common sense (buy nice or buy twice, have a properly-fitted backpack, don’t wear cotton, don’t carry too much or too little, don’t buy cheap tents that can’t withstand all weather conditions, et cetera). Otherwise, your backpack and its contents are the oyster that is your world, and it’s your preference that matters the most. This sounds simple enough, but these are things I wish I knew before going into my thruhike.

You may like hammocks more than tents. You may prefer trail runners over boots. You may prefer a Kindle over a paper book, if that’s what you choose to bring as a luxury item. I just so happen to prefer tents, boots, and paper books. It’s okay to prefer hammocks, trail runners, and Kindles because your level comfort is going to be different from every gear list you come across online during your strenuous research. Whatever it may be, you have to test it out and know what works for you. Comfort and practicality are the major keys when it comes to gear for long distance hiking.

I made a lot of changes early on. That being said, I initially didn’t know what worked for me and had to figure it out the hard way. I took someone’s gear list and assumed if they were successful with those items, I’d enjoy them just as much. Wrong. Because of that, I now know exactly what does work after having tried just about everything else. This is why I can safely stress the importance of that, based on my own trials and errors. Replacing gear, especially if you’re getting it mailed to you 100 miles ahead of you, can be a pain in the butt. Trust me, I would know; I had to do this a few times. If there’s any advice you should take from my gear list or someone else’s when you’re preparing to live off of your back for six months, it’s that you really, really need to know what works for you, and then everything else will take care of itself.

For most of the trail, this is what helped me get from Springer to Katahdin. Before reading my list, line the entire inside of your pack with a garbage bag and know that ziploc bags are your friends. You can’t get more waterproof than that, and I happen to be neurotic about waterproofing so I had just about everything organized and protected in stuff sacks/ziplocs. Without further ado:

The essentials (shelter and sleep setup): - Osprey Aura 50 pack. I sent the detachable brain of the pack home because I didn’t need it. Brains only encourage carrying more crap. Should you decide to keep yours, some of the pros are: town purse/bag (since it is detachable), using it as a way of securing your tent/poles/etc, and storing easy-to-reach snacks. I kept my food at the bottom when fully resupplied, so it was easy to unzip and grab my food bag that way. As it got lighter, I’d move my food bag to the top of my pack for equally as easy access. The way you pack your backpack is a matter of preference for what will work best for you, and you’re the only person who can figure that out as you keep going. If something feels uncomfortable, stop and adjust it. Keep adjusting it until you find that perfect balance. All that matters is that the weight is distributed effectively, and that it’s not pulling you back or pushing you down. - Sierra Designs Lightning tent. I used Tyvek as a footprint, which fit just fine folded up in the sack for the tent. It’s cheaper, dries quickly, and works all the same. You’ll see a lot of people on the trail using Tyvek. Regardless of whether or not you choose to use Tyvek or the expensive footprint designed for your specific tent, you need some kind of protection between the bottom of your tent and the soil. This is to prevent rain and moisture from soaking through, and to preserve the condition of your tent. - REI AirRail inflatable sleeping pad. If you’re the type of person who values the quality of sleep, inflatable sleeping pads are worth the few extra ounces as opposed to foam pads. Of all times for mine to pop, it happened in the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine just days before I finished the trail. By this point, I was pretty careless with where my tent went and it was easy enough to tolerate for the remaining days. You’ll want to camp on the flattest surfaces you can find, free of rocks and roots. I found that I didn’t sleep well on a foam pad, and they’re bulkier. - Mountain Hardware Lamina Z Spark women’s sleeping bag in the dark raspberry color with orange interior. While this wasn’t as warm as I would’ve liked for it to have been, I liked how small it packed, so I made it work for me because that’s where my values were. Sleeping in cold weather was tolerable with all of my clothes on. Depending on the type of person you are, if you’re not like me when it comes to adapting and accepting, then you may not want to use this sleeping bag. There are certainly better options.

Stuff sacks of… well, stuff: *Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Stuff Sacks* - Food Stuff Sack: Self-explanatory. Amount of food carried = mile calculation to next resupply point. This is something you’ll figure out over time. Your mileage will change per region, thus, so will your food bag. The general rule of thumb is that you should never carry more than 4-5 days of food (with the exception of the 100 Mile Wilderness), and ideally, you want to be able to stroll into town as you’re eating your last snack from the food bag. I also kept my lightweight metal spork in my food bag, too. The longer the handle, the better; it’s easier to stir your food, especially for freeze dried meals. - Toiletry Stuff Sack: Compact tampons, travel sized toothbrush and paste, ibuprofen in a ziploc (note: ibuprofen is like candy for hikers- I used it for both inflammation and headaches, so I carried a lot of it at all times), small pack of baby wipes (“hiker showers”), small roll of medical tape (preventative blister care), and travel size Body Glide. - Clothing Stuff Sack: This changed with the seasons. I’ll just list everything I had. Before I list them, some important notes: If there was anything I did 100% right, it was preventative blister care and clothes. The key is minimalism. But don’t underestimate the beauty of dry socks and semi-clean undies; they weigh almost nothing and are worth carrying a couple extra of. You should generally have one pair of clothes for hiking and one for sleeping/town. All clothes were a dry fit material. I had a Marmot rain jacket and that stayed rolled up in the front mesh of my pack. I also had a Patagonia sportsbra, but that obviously stayed on me. *Winter/Spring (Georgia to Pearisburg, VA):* leggings, REI pants, Marmot tshirt, REI puffy jacket, long sleeve tshirt, three pairs of Exefficio undies, two pairs of Injinji toe socks, two pairs of Darn Tough socks, Outdoor Research glove liners (edit: I recommend Northface E-Tip gloves over the OR glove liners. Same glove style, but the Northface ones are warmer and a better material. For the most part, the OR liners were fine all on their own, except for one time when I was in the Smokies and it was 11 degrees and super windy), and a beanie. *Spring/summer (Pearisburg, VA to Hanover, NH):* Mountain Hardware shorts, Patagonia tshirt (eventually switched it out for a Northface shirt but that’s neither here nor there; point is, 1 tshirt at a time), a random tank top I found at Walmart in Pearisburg (usually wore the tank top for hiking and tshirt for sleeping/town), same three pairs of Exefficio undies, same Injinji and Darn Tough socks. I got the same things back in Hanover, NH that I used for Winter/beginning of Spring, and threw away the shorts/tank top. Ignore the rumors to send your winter gear home in Damascus. Seriously, don’t do that; everyone who did was really, really mad at themselves for it. It still gets cold on Mt Rogers (VA’s highest peak) and through Grayson Highlands. Somewhere in Vermont is usually a good time to get your winter gear back, but Hanover, NH (barely) worked for me. I had some issues with package timing, otherwise, I would’ve had them back in mid Vermont. - Electronic Stuff Sack: Anker battery bank, cord for phone, cord for battery bank, and an Apple USB adapter for my iPhone/Anker charger. I kept all of this inside of a ziploc inside of the stuff sack to ensure no water damage.

In between my stuff sacks: - Camp stove/pot/fuel. Kept stove and mini fuel canister inside of pot. All lightweight choices: MSR pocket rocket stove, GSI minimalist hallulite pot, and fuel canister brand varied depending on what was available at resupply points. Fuel is fuel, brand doesn’t matter. - Toilet paper in a ziploc. - Journal, pen, and stamps in a ziploc. - Paracord for hanging food bag. - My favorite luxury item: Sea to Summit inflatable pillow. It’s light, and you’ll thank yourself when you wake up well-rested every morning. You can get by just as well with using your clothing stuff sack as a pillow, but I am such a princess when it comes to sleep.

Side Mesh Pockets: - (2) 1L Smartwater bottles. Replaceable at any grocery or convenient stores, but if you’re gross like me, you’ll carry them for a long time before doing that. Carried a 3rd bottle through the Midatlantic because most water sources dry up. (PA, NJ, and NY). If you’re not carrying these from the beginning, at some point, you’ll notice most hikers around you are and then you’ll never look back at your Nalgenes or Platypus bottles. - Aquamira drops in a ziploc. Aquamira drops are in two 1-ounce bottles, part A and part B. The directions are directly on the bottles, and they’re easy to use/resupply with. - **This is super important. This is the lightest possible way to carry water and treatment. I tried a Sawyer Mini, and then a heavy Katadyn pump. I also had Platypus bottles, but they’re awkward to fill. I’ll never use anything other than Smartwater bottles and Aquamira for treatment.**

Front Mesh Pocket: - Aforementioned Marmot rain jacket rolled up. - Pack cover rolled up. - Headlamp. This is a 100% needed item, no matter which one you choose. Batteries can be resupplied; no need to carry extras unless you’re night hiking often. I night hiked often in the Midatlantic because of the brutal heat, so I definitely had backups then. - Bug net. Unless you enjoy prying about 15 dead bugs out of your eyeballs in the summer per day, you’ll appreciate having one. I should’ve had one much sooner than I did. - Trowel. Don’t be that person that leaves your poop close to the trail or a shelter. Bury it with a lightweight trowel. I stepped in someone’s poop once nearby a shelter, and I think that was understandably the angriest I was at any point during my hike. - Cheap sunglasses. Sunglasses aren’t necessary, but I like ‘em. I used them all the time through the open, rolling fields in VA-PA. - Travel size sunscreen. I eventually threw it away, but I needed it for a while. My Irish skin is quite fair. - Drink mix packets. These are also not necessary, but plain water does get boring after a while. Hawaiian Punch and Arizona Green Tea packets are delicious.

Side hip belt pockets: - Cell phone. - Earbud headphones. Be careful with headphones on the trail. I almost stepped on a huge rattlesnake curled up in the middle of the trail because I didn’t hear it while I was hauling ass and blasting music at full volume (I have a video to prove this story). They also make it difficult to hear if anyone is coming up behind you. - Lighter with a little bit of duct tape wrapped around it. - Needle and thread to repair tears on my pack. - Small knife. I am a huge fan of cheese, and that’s pretty much the only purpose I used it for. - Pepe the plastic dinosaur. My fiancé gave me this stupid little green dinosaur, and I just wanted to be able to say a dinosaur made it across the country. - ID, insurance card, debit and credit cards, and cash in a ziploc.

Hanging from the outside: - AT 2016 tag. - Crocs. - Bandana, off of one of the loops where the shoulder straps is. This is another must-have for me. I used it mostly to wipe sweat off, but it came in handy when I needed to give myself a “hiker shower” with just water in a stream, or the two times I got sick on the trail. I simultaneously hiked and blew infinite amounts of snot into it. (Yes, I washed it in towns before switching up its uses.)

Trekking poles: - Leki. Don’t ask me which ones because I don’t know, haha. They’re green and black. You can’t go wrong with any type of Leki poles.

Mode of transportation: Shoes - Superfeet insoles. Replaced them per every pair of shoes. - Keen boots (Georgia to Daleville, VA) - Salomon trail runners (Daleville, VA to Delaware Water Gap) - Oboz hiking shoes (Delaware Water Gap to Katahdin). These were my favorite. They were lightweight and like a combination of boots and trail runners (the best of both worlds). Very durable. Could’ve lasted longer than Katahdin, but they smelled like death so it was time to say goodbye.

Guidebooks: - Used both Awol and Guthook on my phone. Awol is available PDF and Guthook is an app. Both serve different purposes. Awol is good for knowing exactly what’s around the trail/in town/maps of towns/detailed descriptions of those places. Guthook is a GPS based trail guide that is perfect for the trail itself, and it’s pretty much idiot-proof (unless you’re me). It doesn’t require cell phone service, and you’ll know where you are at all times (although I somehow still managed to get horrendously lost twice; hence, the “unless you’re me” part). Another cool feature is that it allows you to comment on any listed waypoint, and the comments upload once you have service or Wifi. This comes especially in handy for planning ahead with water sources. If you’re the first person to notice a listed source is dry or almost dry, be a pal and leave a comment. Those behind you will love you.

#update

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runwillis · 6 years

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-To Finish is to Win-

Josh Billings is the pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw who was born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts on April 12, 1818. His father, Henry Shaw, served in the Massachusetts State Senate for 25 years. Billings was a renowned humorist in his day, and better known and appreciated than his contemporary, Mark Twain. Commanding capacity crowds wherever he performed, he became widely known for his down-home philosophies, Yankee “one-liners” and peculiar, phonetic spelling.

One of his wise sayings, “To finish is to win” is the motto of the RunAground and one of the reasons the event was named for Josh Billings. The fun-loving, not-too-serious aspect of the race is perhaps why it has become one of the oldest and largest bike-canoe-run triathlons in the country. Another Billings quote appropriate to this triathlon is “The rarest thing a man ever duz iz the best he can.” Attracting elite and amateur athletes alike, “The Josh” is an event for all ages and abilities, for participants and spectators.

This was taken directly from Josh Billings Website.

Earlier this year I was looking for new goals. The Josh Billings Triathlon came up in my search and I thought no way can I do that. I don’t know if I am tough enough for that race. In May I did Simsbury “Try” Triathlon and I liked it. After that race my friend said he was doing “the Josh” (as they call it) and told me I should think about it because it’s a fun race. I thought to myself if he thinks I can do it then maybe I could do it.

I have been told “if your goals don’t scare you, then they aren’t big enough”. This race was terrifying to me. 27 mile hilly bike, 5 mile kayak, and a 10K run to the finish all in 5 hours or less. A big task for someone coming back from a back injury just a few months ago. I thought why not, what’s the worst that happens I DNF? I believe that we have to seek the edge of our limits to see where they are.

So what did I do you ask? I signed up for the race and decided to get myself a coach. I felt this was too big of a goal to do by myself. The person I wanted coaching me and that I hired was Amanda Bayer, from Grizzly Multisport. I love that she was adaptable and would coach me the way I needed to be coached. I swear I couldn’t have done it without her. When I felt overwhelmed by training and needed balancing in my life she was there to help me figure it out. We would set goals each month that I needed to do and then go over them the following meeting. Not time goals, but nutrition during training, hill work, getting some bricks in every week. I liked being responsible for my own training. I learned a lot from this process.

I spent all summer getting ready for this one race. Growth doesn’t happen all at once. All of the other races, rides, kayaks, hikes, and activities were all part of getting me to this one goal. I was very lucky to have some supportive friends that helped me train. I enjoyed the training for this race because it was part of the adventure instead of just getting me to the start line. Even when I traveled for work I would try to kayak, bike, or run to keep up with my training.

One part of the training that really helped me was riding the bike portion of the course twice. First time was on my own. That was a wake up call to how hard this race was going to be. The second time was with a group lead by Brian(he is in the middle in blue). Everyone met on the boat launch in Stockbridge, MA and we all rode the course together. Brian had great insight about the course and how to race it. The bike portion was the part of the race I really wanted to do well at. It was going to be the portion I could save the most time on.

Well it was a week before the race and I thought I had everything planned out and ready. Josh Billings posted that there was an algae bloom in the Stockbridge Bowl where we were supposed to paddle in for the race. They had to change the whole course. The people responsible for putting the race on made the changes quickly but didn’t release all details till Saturday, the day before the race. This made the week leading up kind of stressful. How do you make a race plan when the race distances are in question?

The day before the race Matt(my boyfriend) and I went to the pre race meeting. The Arcadian(a local outdoor store) was a buzz with everyone picking up their packets and asking questions about the race. I saw Brian again, the ride leader from the bike preview rides. His energy is so great. We all talked about race strategies and the changes. Brian had some great tips about the bike course. Matt and I went for a ride to check out the race course. It really helped. The course changes made it very hilly for not only the bike but the run as well. The bike changed to 23.5 miles, the paddle to 5 miles, and the run was now 6.5 miles. I knew I had a lot of work to do but I was going enjoy it.

The one thing I did have down and wouldn’t change was my nutrition. I had practiced my nutrition all during training. So I was confident with Skratch Labs Sports hydration in my camelback for the bike and the kayak. I used Honey Stinger chews on the bike and in the Kayak. I ate a Honey Stinger waffle before the race and during transition. I knew I needed all the calories I could get into my body before the run.

I got up at 4am the on Sunday morning. I ate a yogurt with blueberries and walnuts like had done on all my training sessions. Of course I had coffee. I love having Alpine Start Coffee because all I need to do is add hot water. The boat drop opened up at 4am. It was important to get up to the boat area early to get a good spot and not wait in line all morning. We got done really early, before 6am. So I went back to bed before I needed to be up.

I think the nap really helped. I got up and had a honey stinger waffle with another cup of coffee. I packed up and double checked my bike and my gear. Then I was off to do my warm up. I got to see some sunflowers on my ride and I thought today will be a great day! As I rode back to the staging area, there were cyclist filling the Price Chopper parking lot. That’s where they held everyone before the start. It was chaos because Price Chopper was open and there were people that were trying to get in and out to shop there.

As we waited my nerves started to come to the surface. The way I deal with it is by talking about something else. I know that when I get to the start line everything will kick in, because I am ready to race!

We were moving into place. I went to get my watch ready and then realized my watch wasn’t set up! Oh No! So as everyone else was getting excited, and listening to announcements. Here I was trying to get my watch set up. I realized with 2 minutes to go I had forgotten how to set it up. So I decided I would record each leg individually, and not worry about transitions. I knew what I had to hit to be successful.

Then we were off! A mass bike start is an interesting thing. There are cyclist all around you and everyone is racing to get the best spot possible. We were all trying to get to the top of the first hill. That hill divided everyone up and who you ended up with after it was pretty much who you were with the whole race. After the first hill I wasn’t in a pack. I knew I had to ride my best ride on my own because there was no one to work with.

It’s a funny thing when you are well rested going into a race. It seems so much easier to push and ride aggressively. I felt great during the whole ride. It was nice chatting with other riders along the way. I feel like they were the friendliest of the bunch in the race. It made the bike portion of the race so enjoyable.

I got into the bike transition 6 minutes before I thought I would. I thought “it’s done! I could quit right now and be so happy!” Well of course I didn’t quit and I handed my bike off to Matt and told him to take good care of my bike. I switched my shoes, took off my helmet, and put on my run number.

Oh yeah there was a number for each leg. One was on my camel back, on my life vest and then my race belt.

I put all my stuff in backpack and grabbed a honey stinger waffle. Remember I still had my camleback on with Skratch Labs sports hydration on my back. So it helped wash down the Honey Stinger waffle as I moved through the .3 mile transition.

Matt asked if I wanted him to run with me to the boat, I said “no, all I want is a kiss.” I thanked him for his help and I left to get in the boat. I started to run as I opened my honey stinger waffle package. My body didn’t like running and eating at the same time. So I started to walk. I knew I needed to get calories down soon than later. I needed to get as much as I could in me for calories before I got out of my kayak. It was challenging to eat on the bike and I knew it would be even more challenging to eat during the kayak. So allowed myself to walk and eat while taking this all in. I was doing it!

I got to my boat and asked for a helper. I barley got my life preserver on and there was someone picking up my boat. I picked up the back and we got it quickly into the water. I got into the boat and he pushed me off. I started to try and zip up my life preserver and it wasn’t going. I realized I hadn’t adjusted it for my pack. CRAP! Never mind that because I was merging into the traffic on the water like a three lane highway at rush hour on a Friday. There were boats every where. canoes, kayaks, stand up paddle boards, it was chaos. I tried a couple more times to adjust my vest but I couldn’t. So I left it open. Just one more rookie mistake that probably cost me a few minutes.

I had to make 2 1/2 loops, and after my first loop there were far less people in the water. It was hot out in the direct sun and it seemed like I was going slower no matter how hard I paddled. The best part of the kayak was as I went around the lake, the people from the shore cheered us all on. It was incredible and helped when there were less people in the water.

I was so excited when I was coming into transition. I was yelling for a helper because Matt wasn’t there. As I rolled out of the boat into the water, it felt refreshing. However my legs didn’t want to work, because of too much sitting. The volunteers asked if I needed medical help. I told them no, I just had to get running. I removed both my pack and my life preserver. If felt freeing to have nothing to carry. All I had now to do was run.

There was a short hill with loose rocks to start out the run. Right after the timing mat was the first aid station. I stopped to get a sip of water and dumped the rest on my head. I was hot. So even warm water felt good and I turned back to walk up the hill. I knew I needed to get things moving. I got to the top of the hill and I started running. Every time a hill came up, I would start to walk but I also started to count. When I got to 20 I started running again. It helped me stay motivated but gave me enough of a break.

I turned left up a dirt road with big old oaks lining it and past them was a beautiful open field. I enjoyed the views but I was suffering in the heat. The people that lived along the route were so sweet. They sat at the end of their driveways with water and cheered us on. I decided I couldn’t stop at all of them. It was motivating to know people cared that much. So I pressed on. Along the way I thanked volunteers, police, and EMTs for being out there. I was always shocked when they would thank me for racing.

I got to mile 4 and there was a huge hill. We were all walking up it. Even the people that had passed me on the run earlier. It started to flatted out and I started running again. I passed some EMTS on course and got to a shady portion to slow to a walk again. I started to get a pulsating in my temples and I knew what that meant. I have had heat stroke before. So I gave myself permission to keep walking because I didn’t want to blow up before the finish.

As I turned the corner I saw what we call “the shark”! I knew where I was! I The hill was almost over! A sign ahead said Water station coming up. I got really excited at this point!

As I approached the next intersection The cop said to me “you are over the hill and it’s all down hill from here!”. He was right. Just past the officer was the water station. All the volunteers were so friendly and helpful. After another cup of water over my head I was off running again. The down hill was so nice and easy to keep the legs moving.

As I got closer to the finish, I came upon a spot that was familiar to me. Back in February I had gone on a yoga retreat to Kirpalu in Lenox, MA with some friends. The road we crossed on our hike was the very road I was running on. That day in February I could only go 1 mile. I got a little emotional looking down the trail and thinking about how far I had come from February. I thought this race is a celebration of what I can do.

As I was running I gathered myself and told myself it wasn’t over yet. I told myself you aren’t done till you cross that finish line.

I came down a small incline and saw the finish. I told myself to “straighten up and keep pushing”! As I rounded the corner it was quiet but then people started to notice I was finishing and they cheered. I saw the clock, 4:37:35 as I crossed the finish line. I did it and had time to spare. I was so hot and tired. But I was happy that there was water and oranges at the finish. Matt and my friend Erin were there to congratulate me at the finish. All I wanted was a Coca Cola. Matt was nice enough to go get one for me. The Coke was glorious to have with a cheeseburger. Friends and food after a race what more could you ask for? It was a great day!

It all went so well. I couldn’t believe it. And I felt good after the race. I have to say it’s true when people say “trust your training”. I did everything right and executed my race plan well. This race taught me with Determination, hard work, and a blind belief that you can do it, anything is possible.

I couldn’t do this alone. It took a village to help me get across that line. First off is my wonderful boyfriend, Matt. I have some crazy ideas but he never says that you can’t do it. He is right there for me, supporting me. Thank you for all your love, help, and support. You make me feel like a champion everyday.

Thank you to Amanda, my Coach. You made this whole process fun and I learned so much from you. I am looking forward to working with you in 2019! Here’s to more adventures! If you are thinking about doing a triathlon and need a good coach, check her out!

Grizzly Multisport

Thank you to Skratch Labs for their support. I love their products and their hydration helped me get through this hot and hilly race. I love being a brand ambassador for Skratch Labs but I would still be using their products even if I wasn’t an ambassador for them.

Skratch Labs

Thank you to Honey Stinger for their yummy nutrition. I have been using their products for years and it’s the only thing I can eat while I am racing and training. I love being an ambassador for Honey Stinger. They helped keep me going during this race!

Honey Stinger

I also have to thank my amazing bicycle shop! Trek Bicycles Newington of Newington, CT is the best! They helped fit me to this beautiful bike. There is no way I could complete this race with my old bike. Thank you Newington for your group rides and your service! I love the way this shop supports me!

Trek Newington

If you want to learn more about this crazy race I have provided the link below. My recommendation on if you should try this race, I would say yes. It’s a great community and a beautiful place to race.

Josh Billings

If you are still reading and wondering what my next adventure is…

There is a off road poker ride coming up

Then a off road duathlon!

Until next time go chase your adventure!

Josh Billings Triathlon -To Finish is to Win- Josh Billings is the pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw who was born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts on April 12, 1818.

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readbookywooks · 7 years

Text

“Tommy, are you even listening to me?”

Thomas snapped out of his daze and focused on Newt, who’d been talking for who knew how long; Thomas hadn’t heard a word of it. “Yeah, sorry. Couldn’t sleep last night.”

Newt attempted a pathetic smile. “Can’t blame ya there. Went through the buggin’ ringer, you did. Probably think I’m a slinthead shank for gettin’ you ready to work your butt off today after an episode the likes of that.”

Thomas shrugged. “Work’s probably the best thing I could do. Anything to get my mind off it.”

Newt nodded, and his smile became more genuine. “You’re as smart as you look, Tommy. That’s one of the reasons we run this place all nice and busylike. You get lazy, you get sad. Start givin’ up. Plain and simple.”

Thomas nodded, absently kicking a loose rock across the dusty, cracked stone floor of the Glade. “So what’s the latest on that girl from yesterday?” If anything had penetrated the haze of his long morning, it had been thoughts of her. He wanted to know more about her, understand the odd connection he felt to her.

“Still in a coma, sleepin’. Med-jacks are spoon-feeding her whatever soups Frypan can cook up, checking her vitals and such. She seems okay, just dead to the world for now.”

“That was just plain weird.” If it hadn’t been for the whole Ben-in-the-graveyard incident, Thomas was sure she would’ve been all he’d thought about last night. Maybe he wouldn’t have been able to sleep for an entirely different reason. He wanted to know who she was and if he really did know her somehow.

“Yeah,” Newt said. “Weird’s as good a word as any, I ’spect.”

Thomas looked over Newt’s shoulder at the big faded-red barn, pushing thoughts of the girl aside. “So what’s first? Milk cows or slaughter some poor little pigs?”

Newt laughed, a sound Thomas realized he hadn’t heard much since he’d arrived. “We always make the Newbies start with the bloody Slicers. Don’t worry, cuttin’ up Frypan’s victuals ain’t but a part. Slicers do anything and everything dealin’ with the beasties.”

“Too bad I can’t remember my whole life. Maybe I love killing animals.” He was just joking, but Newt didn’t seem to get it.

Newt nodded toward the barn. “Oh, you’ll know good and well by the time sun sets tonight. Let’s go meet Winston—he’s the Keeper.”

Winston was an acne-covered kid, short but muscular, and it seemed to Thomas the Keeper liked his job way too much. Maybe he was sent here for being a serial killer, he thought.

Winston showed Thomas around for the first hour, pointing out which pens held which animals, where the chicken and turkey coops were, what went where in the barn. The dog, a pesky black Lab named Bark, took quickly to Thomas, hanging at his feet the entire tour. Wondering where the dog came from, Thomas asked Winston, who said Bark had just always been there. Luckily, he seemed to have gotten his name as a joke, because he was pretty quiet.

The second hour was spent actually working with the farm animals—feeding, cleaning, fixing a fence, scraping up klunk. Klunk. Thomas found himself using the Glader terms more and more.

The third hour was the hardest for Thomas. He had to watch as Winston slaughtered a hog and began preparing its many parts for future eating. Thomas swore two things to himself as he walked away for lunch break. First, his career would not be with the animals; second, he’d never again eat something that came out of a pig.

Winston had said for him to go on alone, that he’d hang around the Blood House, which was fine with Thomas. As he walked toward the East Door, he couldn’t stop picturing Winston in a dark corner of the barn, gnawing on raw pigs’ feet. The guy gave him the willies.

Thomas was just passing the Box when he was surprised to see someone enter the Glade from the Maze, through the West Door, to his left—an Asian kid with strong arms and short black hair, who looked a little older than Thomas. The Runner stopped three steps in, then bent over and put his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. He looked like he’d just run twenty miles, face red, skin covered in sweat, clothes soaked.

Thomas stared, overcome with curiosity—he’d yet to see a Runner up close or talk to one. Plus, based on the last couple of days, the Runner was home hours early. Thomas stepped forward, eager to meet him and ask questions.

But before he could form a sentence, the boy collapsed to the ground.

CHAPTER 12

Thomas didn’t move for a few seconds. The boy lay in a crumpled heap, barely moving, but Thomas was frozen by indecision, afraid to get involved. What if something was seriously wrong with this guy? What if he’d been … stung? What if—

Thomas snapped out of it—the Runner obviously needed help.

“Alby!” he shouted. “Newt! Somebody get them!”

Thomas sprinted to the older boy and knelt down beside him. “Hey—you okay?” The Runner’s head rested on outstretched arms as he panted, his chest heaving. He was conscious, but Thomas had never seen someone so exhausted.

“I’m … fine,” he said between breaths, then looked up. “Who the klunk are you?”

“I’m new here.” It hit Thomas then that the Runners were out in the Maze during the day and hadn’t witnessed any of the recent events firsthand. Did this guy even know about the girl? Probably—surely someone had told him. “I’m Thomas—been here just a couple of days.”

The Runner pushed himself up into a sitting position, his black hair matted to his skull with sweat. “Oh, yeah, Thomas,” he huffed. “Newbie. You and the chick.”

Alby jogged up then, clearly upset. “What’re you doin’ back, Minho? What happened?”

“Calm your wad, Alby,” the Runner replied, seeming to gain strength by the second. “Make yourself useful and get me some water—I dropped my pack out there somewhere.”

But Alby didn’t move. He kicked Minho in the leg—too hard to be playful. “What happened?”

“I can barely talk, shuck-face!” Minho yelled, his voice raw. “Get me some water!”

Alby looked over at Thomas, who was shocked to see the slightest hint of a smile flash across his face before vanishing in a scowl. “Minho’s the only shank who can talk to me like that without getting his butt kicked off the Cliff.”

Then, surprising Thomas even more, Alby turned and ran off, presumably to get Minho some water.

Thomas turned toward Minho. “He lets you boss him around?”

Minho shrugged, then wiped fresh beads of sweat off his forehead. “You scared of that pip-squeak? Dude, you got a lot to learn. Freakin’ Newbies.”

The rebuke hurt Thomas far more than it should have, considering he’d known this guy all of three minutes. “Isn’t he the leader?”

“Leader?” Minho barked a grunt that was probably supposed to be a laugh. “Yeah, call him leader all you want. Maybe we should call him El Presidente. Nah, nah—Admiral Alby. There you go.” He rubbed his eyes, snickering as he did so.

Thomas didn’t know what to make of the conversation—it was hard to tell when Minho was joking. “So who is the leader if he isn’t?”

“Greenie, just shut it before you confuse yourself more.” Minho sighed as if bored, then muttered, almost to himself, “Why do you shanks always come in here asking stupid questions? It’s really annoying.”

“What do you expect us to do?” Thomas felt a flush of anger. Like you were any different when you first came, he wanted to say.

“Do what you’re told, keep your mouth shut. That’s what I expect.”

Minho had looked him square in the face for the first time with that last sentence, and Thomas scooted back a few inches before he could stop himself. He realized immediately he’d just made a mistake—he couldn’t let this guy think he could talk to him like that.

He pushed himself back up onto his knees so he was looking down at the older boy. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what you did as a Newbie.”

Minho looked at Thomas carefully. Then, again staring straight in his eyes, said, “I was one of the first Gladers, slinthead. Shut your hole till you know what you’re talking about.”

Thomas, now slightly scared of the guy but mostly fed up with his attitude, moved to get up. Minho’s hand snapped out and grabbed his arm.

“Dude, sit down. I’m just playin’ with your head. It’s too much fun—you’ll see when the next Newbie …” He trailed off, a perplexed look wrinkling his eyebrows. “Guess there won’t be another Newbie, huh?”

Thomas relaxed, returned to a sitting position, surprised at how easily he’d been put back at ease. He thought of the girl and the note saying she was the last one ever. “Guess not.”

Minho squinted slightly, as if he was studying Thomas. “You saw the chick, right? Everybody says you probably know her or something.”

Thomas felt himself grow defensive. “I saw her. Doesn’t really look familiar at all.” He felt immediately guilty for lying—even if it was just a little lie.

“She hot?”

Thomas paused, not having thought of her in that way since she’d freaked out and delivered the note and her one-liner—Everything is going to change. But he remembered how beautiful she was. “Yeah, I guess she’s hot.”

Minho leaned back until he lay flat, eyes closed. “Yeah, you guess. If you got a thing for chicks in comas, right?” He snickered again.

“Right.” Thomas was having the hardest time figuring out if he liked Minho or not—his personality seemed to change every minute. After a long pause, Thomas decided to take a chance. “So …,” he asked cautiously, “did you find anything today?”

Minho’s eyes opened wide; he focused on Thomas. “You know what, Greenie? That’s usually the dumbest shuck-faced thing you could ask a Runner.” He closed his eyes again. “But not today.”

“What do you mean?” Thomas dared to hope for information. An answer, he thought. Please just give me an answer!

“Just wait till the fancy admiral gets back. I don’t like saying stuff twice. Plus, he might not want you to hear it anyway.”

Thomas sighed. He wasn’t in the least bit surprised at the non-answer. “Well, at least tell me why you look so tired. Don’t you run out there every day?”

Minho groaned as he pulled himself up and crossed his legs under him. “Yeah, Greenie, I run out there every day. Let’s just say I got a little excited and ran extra fast to get my bee-hind back here.”

“Why?” Thomas desperately wanted to hear about what happened out in the Maze.

Minho threw his hands up. “Dude. I told you. Patience. Wait for General Alby.”

Something in his voice lessened the blow, and Thomas made his decision. He liked Minho. “Okay, I’ll shut up. Just make sure Alby lets me hear the news, too.”

Minho studied him for a second. “Okay, Greenie. You da boss.”

Alby walked up a moment later with a big plastic cup full of water and handed it to Minho, who gulped down the whole thing without stopping once for breath.

“Okay,” Alby said, “out with it. What happened?”

Minho raised his eyebrows and nodded toward Thomas.

“He’s fine,” Alby replied. “I don’t care what this shank hears. Just talk!”

Thomas sat quietly in anticipation as Minho struggled to stand up, wincing with every move, his whole demeanor just screaming exhaustion. The Runner balanced himself against the wall, gave both of them a cold look. “I found a dead one.”

“Huh?” Alby asked. “A dead what?”

Minho smiled. “A dead Griever.”

CHAPTER 13

Thomas was fascinated at the mention of a Griever. The nasty creature was terrifying to think about, but he wondered why finding a dead one was such a big deal. Had it never happened before?

Alby looked like someone had just told him he could grow wings and fly. “Ain’t a good time for jokes,” he said.

“Look,” Minho answered, “I wouldn’t believe me if I were you, either. But trust me, I did. Big fat nasty one.”

It’s definitely never happened before, Thomas thought.

“You found a dead Griever,” Alby repeated.

“Yes, Alby,” Minho said, his words laced with annoyance. “A couple of miles from here, out near the Cliff.”

Alby looked out at the Maze, then back at Minho. “Well … why didn’t you bring it back with you?”

Minho laughed again, a half-grunt, half-giggle. “You been drinkin’ Frypan’s saucy-sauce? Those things must weigh half a ton, dude. Plus, I wouldn’t touch one if you gave me a free trip out of this place.”

Alby persisted with the questions. “What did it look like? Were the metal spikes in or out of its body? Did it move at all—was its skin still moist?”

Thomas was bursting with questions—Metal spikes? Moist skin? What in the world?—but held his tongue, not wanting to remind them he was there. And that maybe they should talk in private.

“Slim it, man,” Minho said. “You gotta see it for yourself. It’s … weird.”

“Weird?” Alby looked confused.

“Dude, I’m exhausted, starving, and sun-sick. But if you wanna haul it right now, we could probably make it there and back before the walls shut.”

Alby looked at his watch. “Better wait till the wake-up tomorrow.”

#MazeRunner

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