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daisybeewrites · 3 years

Text

Academy Blues

sometimes you punch the bag, sometimes to bag punches you

word count: 4.5k

warnings: none. heavy handed use of italics

ship: Dousy (Daniel Sousa/Daisy Johnson), background Fitzsimmons and Philinda

ahaha.. and the fun begins (the cryptic-ness is for a reason i promise)

“Ow!!” Daisy exclaimed. This was the second time today she had gotten distracted and let the punching bag swing into her. Sans Bobbi or Mack, her usual workout partners, there was no one to hold the bag still while she was pummeling it. Her side of the gym was entirely void of people, most opting to use the treadmills or other cardio machines lining the wall of large windows that faced the forest to the south, or stick to circuits on the resistance machines throughout the middle of the gym. The universe seemed to be telling her to get in some boxing, so she walked over to the bag with the intention of punching until her arms hurt.

Now her nose hurts, too.

“You need a spot?” May asked, silently crossing the padded floor to Daisy.

She nodded. Waiting for May to get into position, Daisy stretched out her arms over her head and across her body, twisting her torso to feel her abs stretch. When May gave her a thumbs up, Daisy started to punch the heavy bag again, this time with a little more force now that she knew it wouldn’t fly back and hit her in the face.

“Something on your mind?”

“No,” Daisy grunted. “Just slacked off the last few weeks. With everyone gone on break there wasn’t as much of... everything, I guess, to keep me in a routine.”

May nodded. “Breaks can be tough. No classes, schedule disrupted, more free time than you know what to do with. I get it. If you ever want a time-filler, text and I’ll be there.”

Daisy nodded, going back to silently punching. The breaks weren’t all bad. They only happened eight times a year, five two-week breaks and three three-week breaks. Enough time that those with families and lives outside of SHIELD could visit and vacation, but not fall behind. Plus, it gave Daisy the campus pretty much to herself. Only about forty students stayed at The Academy over breaks, and it seemed to decrease every time.

Another good thing about breaks was that Daisy got to know more people personally. Whether it was how the tall, fifth-year red head took her morning coffee or that the new group of first-years liked to run the same trails through the forest as she did. So, when an entirely new face had cropped up out of nowhere, Daisy was intrigued. He walked with a limp, had nice hair and kind eyes. She didn’t recognize him, and despite the fact that he had arrived the same day as the rest of the first-years, he was definitely the oldest of the pack. That was unusual, Daisy had thought, SHIELD almost always recruits directly out of high school or college. The last time anyone over the age of twenty-five had been accepted to the Academy was when Daisy herself had started. However, that was a bit of a… special situation.

Every morning, New Guy crossed through the computer lab and waved, smiling confidently at Daisy. His sudden appearance and amicable interactions confused her. Classes weren’t in session, but he always had a backpack with him. Maybe he had tutoring with one of the professors? A new student trying to catch up before the term even began — an enigma.

Once classes had started, he still came by everyday. Daisy liked to think it was because he wanted to see her. They had never spoken more than tired greetings to each other, and yet Daisy felt herself pulled towards him. She shook off the thought. It made her skin crawl, thinking about the last time she felt such a magnetic attraction to someone.

She realized May was studying her through the mirrors lining the wall next to the row of punching bags. She cleared her throat and asked, “Is my form okay?”

May gave her a long look that clearly said, ‘You know that your form is fine.’

Daisy pulled her eyes away from May’s stare, announcing, “I’m going to fill up my water, do you need any?”

May shook her head, pulling out her phone.

Daisy bent down to grab her water and headed to the back of the gym, towards the locker rooms. A couple of reusable bottle-filler stations were stuck into the wall, right next to the PT rooms. Daisy couldn’t help but peer into the closest one as she listened to the sound of water streaming into her bottle. It was filled with floor ladders, yoga balls, sports med supplies... New Guy. Huh.

Wondering why he would be sitting in a dark PT room by himself, Daisy took a swig of her water before continuing to fill it up. He hopped off the table as the lights came on, a young doctor-type walking in a smiling. She was reminded of his limp when he walked towards her, shaking her hand and flashing a large smile. Cute, Daisy noticed. Wait, no, what?

Daisy promptly turned and headed back to the wall of mirrors, choosing to ignore the smirk on May’s face.

“Ready?” Daisy asked.

“Actually,” May began, “Why don’t we get in some sparring? You’ve been at this for over an hour.”

Daisy caught the glance May threw at the half-assed wraps on her hands and nodded. With only a few jitters, Daisy quickly helped May unroll the sparring mats onto the floor. Daisy had only sparred with Yo-Yo since she got back from Columbia visiting her cousin. Sparring with May was an entirely different level.

After some warm-up drills, May silently took charge and got into a fighting stance. Daisy rose up on her tip-toes, then rocked backwards. The grey padding beneath her looked a lot softer than it felt while being slammed onto it. A quick lunge from Daisy and a swift deflection by May, and the two women were off.

Across the gym, Daniel Sousa and the doctor were chatting, watching Daisy and May.

“They look like they’re barely breaking a sweat,” Daniel commented after May leaped off Daisy’s leg, flipping forwards and attempting to grab Daisy around the shoulders. Daisy rolled backward, throwing May over her and getting to her feet as the shorter woman jumped up into a wide stance.

“You’ll get back to that level,” The physical therapist assured him.

Daniel shook his head. “Maybe. I hope so. If not, I’m a damn good shot, anyway.”

The doctor chuckled before motioning back to the PT room. “C’mon, you still have thirty minutes stuck with me before I release you from daily therapy.”

“It’s only been three weeks?” Daniel questioned, confused. They walked through a black door to a small room. Grey cabinets on one side, a black table on the other, physical therapy tools lined up in organized sections.

“Most of which was just assessing you. You already know the exercises and stretches, and you completed the physical therapy recommended by your primary care physician before you came to us. You have the strength mostly back in your residual limb, at least to the point where sparring shouldn’t do any damage. I still expect you to show up at least twice a week. Especially since you’re starting field training with May.”

He smiled. “How do you know about that?”

“I have access to your file, Sousa,” She reminded him, “I also know you were late to her class on the first day. Not a smart move, in my opinion.”

Daniel cringed at the memory of heads turning his way, watching him limp to the only open seat in the very front. May’s comment— “Thoughtful of you to join us, Agent Sousa,” —still turned his face a slightly embarrassing shade of red when he thought about it.

Noticing his uncomfortable silence, the physical therapist put on a sympathetic face. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. I was late to my first class, too. Professor Martin, advanced physiology. Granted, I was seventeen...”

Daniel playfully glared at her.

“...but I suppose that’s no excuse. Let’s get started.”

The rest of the day went by without Daisy or Daniel seeing much of each other besides a fleeting glimpse while changing classes. Not that they were looking for the other, or anything.

A few hours later, before dinner, Daisy was sitting on the counter in the girls’ dorm bathroom, watching Jemma curl her hair.

Jemma Simmons was one of the only people she immediately loved at SHIELD, and the first person she had trusted on Coulson’s team. Over the course of a couple months, they became closer than Daisy had ever been with anyone, spending almost every waking moment together. Over time, Daisy had grown to love the rest of the team, too, learning that they had also been hand picked by Coulson. Though, technically, Daisy hadn’t been chosen for the team. She was picked up as a consultant. But it didn’t matter, as the ragtag team had quickly been disbanded.

Knives shoved into your back can have that effect.

After the end of the team, Code-named Bus Kids, Daisy, Fitzsimmons, Tripp, and May and Coulson had come to the Academy to continue working with SHIELD. Daisy and Tripp were assigned as partners in their ops training, Fitzsimmons were partners in the lab, and May and Coulson still checked on them as if nothing had changed.

But people get busy, and it had been awhile since Jemma and Daisy had properly talked to each other.

“Does the bruise on my nose look like it’ll go away any time soon?”

Jemma glanced up through the mirror, shrugging. “It should. What did you do to it?”

Daisy fiddled with her hands, only answering when Jemma turned to face her fully.

“I kinda, uhm, got punched...”

The stern look Jemma gave Daisy quickly melted into laughter as the brunette added, “...by a punching bag.”

Reaching up to turn Daisy’s face towards the fluorescent bathroom lighting, Jemma gently ran a finger along the angry red splotch on the top of Daisy’s nose. She jerked her head a bit, wincing at the contact.

“You should be fine, I’ll grab some of the good anti-inflammatory meds from the medical storage.”

Daisy thanked her, hopping off the counter to grab an eyeliner pen. “So, how is Fitz? Is this a real date night or are you guys ‘just hanging out’?”

Jemma smiled at his name and rubbed her neck. Daisy smiled back at the subconscious reaction.

“You two are so meant for each other,” She teased.

Jemma tilted her face up towards Daisy, allowing her to start applying eyeliner.

“He hasn’t really defined it. We’re ‘going out’, but we aren’t dating.”

Daisy finished the subtle cat eye, shaking her head. When would he learn that Jemma would only believe they were together if he said, ‘Hey, Jems, I’m completely and totally in love with you and I want you and I to live happily ever after!’

Daisy watched Jemma inspect herself in the mirror, touching up her mascara.

“You look amazing. He’s a fool if he doesn’t see it,” Daisy assured.

Jemma smiled. Her Sheffield accent had gotten thicker over break, Daisy noticed, as Jemma responded, “He does, I know he does. We both just have trouble, you know? Voicing our thoughts and feelings.”

Daisy definitely knew…

“Well, he could do with a good reminder sometimes. If y’all are going to keep going on these not-dates, you might as well show him what he’s missing by staying just friends!”

Jemma laughed, smiling gratefully. She took one final look in the mirror, swishing her knee-length royal blue dress and fluffing her hair. “Okay, well, off I go. Have a good night, Daisy.”

Daisy gave her a thumbs up and went to watch out her window as Fitz handed Jemma a hand-picked bouquet of (slightly squished) wildflowers and took her arm to lead her to the parking lot.

Daisy sighed and turned away from the gold and pink sunset. She opened her personal laptop, immediately bombarded by three windows running programs. One was running an innocent algorithm to clean all the useless, unused files from her computer, one was a simulation that could (hypothetically, no harm no foul) hack the Pentagon, and another was trying to find video and audio feed from Los Angeles, four months ago.

Daisy’s gaze lingered on the last one, not expecting anything new. She sighed and picked up her laptop, deciding to go visit Mack in the garage. It was only seven on a Friday, he’d probably be there working on the run-down, close to falling apart Harley he had bought off an old friend for $200. Mack had been working on it for months. Daisy wasn’t even sure it had half its original parts.

A short trip across the grounds and a trek over a winding path cut through a field of thick tallgrass later, Daisy arrived at the garage.

The monstrous steel and concrete building was like a plane hangar and mechanics lab forged into one. Workstations around the edge were strewn with tools, motors, and half-finished pieces of tech. Shining black SHIELD vehicles and even two quinjets sat in the middle, outlined by rectangular blocks of tape and paint. Catwalks crossed the upper level so that mechanics could reach the tops of planes when necessary, though SHIELD planes hardly ever came to The Academy unless they were being used for a lesson.

Daisy followed the sounds of tinkering and the quietly moving shadows to Mack’s workstation. She carefully leaned against a nearby SHIELD van, not wanting to interrupt his work.

Now, to say that Mack wasn’t easily frightened was an understatement. Daisy had hardly ever seen the muscled giant of a man so much as jump. Ever since discovering this, Daisy had taken every opportunity to try to scare Mack. It was not going great.

Daisy pulled out her phone, silently thumbing through emails and checking Instagram. She was about to walk over and tap him on the shoulder when Mack turned around and screamed.

Clutching his chest, Mack exclaimed, “Tremors, what the hell?!”

“I just wanted to come check in,” Daisy giggled, happy that she had finally snuck up on Mack.

Mack stood with his hands on his hips, smiling wide, before cocking one thick eyebrow and gesturing at her face.

“What happened to your nose?”

“Punching bag won this morning,” She shrugged.

Mack shook his head, laughing in a deep rumble. “You wanna help me with this?” He asked, pointing to the small device on his desk.

She didn’t answer, just reached out to take a small screwdriver from Mack’s very large hand. He showed her how to twist it to create leverage without it slipping while he messed with some wires, and eventually he seemed satisfied.

“Have you eaten dinner?” Mack asked casually.

Daisy nodded, her grumbling stomach betraying her.

Mack eyed her up and down. “Sure. Well, I’m hungry, so let's get something to eat and then we can take the bikes out.”

Daisy liked the feeling of being on a bike, the wind in her hair and steady vibrations from the engine soothing her ever-present headache. Ever since this revelation, if Mack went out on his motorcycle, he invited Daisy to ride with him.

At first, Daisy had been skeptical. What was so great about a two-wheel speeding death trap? One of her best friends had driven a gleaming 1969 Dodge Charger, and she had enjoyed riding with the windows down, but it still wasn’t the absolute best experience of her life, like most motorcyclists claimed a ride could be. However, once Daisy had finally taken Mack up on his offer, she was never hesitant to accept another invitation.

In the canteen, Mack piled a plate high with salad ingredients and baked spaghetti, scooping some off into a bowl for Daisy once he got back to the table. She took a fork and picked at it, chewing the crisp lettuce slowly.

Once they were both finished, Mack put his plate and utensils on the circling dish belt. He let Daisy lead the way back to the garage. She immediately grabbed two helmets and Mack’s gloves.

“That leather jacket gonna be enough to keep you warm? I have a couple old flannels in my bag if you want one.” Mack offered.

Daisy picked at a loose thread on the worn black jacket, nodding and throwing a ‘Thanks’ over her shoulder. She quickly rifled through his duffel bag, pulling out a faded black and blue flannel and shrugging it on under her jacket.

Mack mounted his black and silver bike, Daisy choosing a smaller SHIELD one. She kicked the kickstand back with her foot, finding her balance. She followed Mack as he revved the engine and took off out of the garage. Daisy heard him speak into the helmet’s mic.

“I upgraded the bikes, bigger tires and a better visor. It’s more efficient. Plus, when I’m out on the highway, cars don’t push me around.”

Daisy gave him a thumbs up, focusing on the feeling of air flowing around her. She sped up as she reached the road. She felt as if she was flying high into the air, fighting the laws of physics. On the back roads surrounding the Academy, as familiar as the back of her hand, Daisy relaxed and let herself fall into autopilot.

She heard Mack in her ear, still talking about the bike. She had heard it all before, but there was something centering about listening to Mack retell the evolution of his bike for the hundredth time, like a kid who begged to hear the same bedtime story every night.

It was freeing, speeding down a deserted road on the bike, stars above and pavement below. Pine trees reached for the sky on each side of her. Shrubbery and grass waved to Mack and Daisy as they raced forward.

A slight burn pricked her eyes that she knew wasn’t from the wind. Daisy needed this after a stressful first couple weeks back in class. To be honest, it was what she needed all the time. Daisy was exhausted. Her powers may not be visible, but they were always on, always bouncing around her body. Times like these, though, Daisy felt free. Releasing the constant grip she had on her self-control, she let the vibrations of the engine flow through her. Slowly, surely, Daisy let her guard down. A whispering warble crept into her ears over the wind. She could feel the way the pavement below and the humid late-August air around her absorbed the miniscule quakes, bouncing lightly off the tall trees like a quiet laugh reflecting off the walls of an echo-chamber.

About an hour later, Daisy and Mack were rolling back into the garage. Daisy couldn’t hide the slight redness in her eyes, but the smile on her face told Mack he didn’t need to worry. The pair silently did maintenance on the motorcycles, re-fueling them for later use and checking for any loose parts on Daisy’s.

Daisy headed back to campus, refusing Mack’s offer to walk her back to the dorms. She would be fine on her own. Besides, Jems might be back by now, she could ask about Fitzsimmons’ date. Or she could wait until breakfast tomorrow and tease them both.

Daisy stopped in her tracks. Out of the corner of her eye, a shadow slipped behind a building. Daisy felt her back tense, her hands curling into fists.

Any remainder of twilight light had faded while Mack and Daisy maintenanced the bikes. Daisy couldn’t imagine that any of the trainees that went to parties at the nearby universities were back yet, but no student in their right mind would want to simply walk around the dark campus of the Academy.

She kept walking, more alert. No sounds apart from her steady breathing and the rustle of grass beneath her feet reached her ears. She walked slowly toward where the shadow had disappeared. It looked as if it was headed to the biochem building. Daisy raised her hands, quietly running towards the white building, slightly crouched. She circled it once, twice, before deciding she had been imagining things, the shadow was only a trick of the light. It seemed so real though, so solid…

Daisy shook her head and crossed the courtyard, heading towards the dorms. It was late, and she had important things to do tomorrow. She was probably just tired from her ride with Mack.

Behind her, unnoticed by Daisy, the shadow quickly crossed the field behind the biochem building, slinking into the tallgrass.

The next day, Daisy woke to the sound of her alarm blaring 90’s RnB at six thirty AM, sharp. She quickly shut it off and stared at the ceiling for a moment before groaning and dragging herself out of bed. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night after her encounter with the shadow.

The sun was slowly ascending in the sky, golden light filtering into her windows. It was early, but she didn’t have the energy to go workout. Instead, Daisy stretched on her bed and sent a quick text to Jemma asking to meet up later to gossip about her date.

She grabbed shorts and a cropped sweatshirt, quickly dressing and making her way to the bathroom. She clipped her hair back, brushed her teeth, washed her face and headed back to her room. Trying her best to cover the bruise that had turned from red-violet to a blue-ish tinted black, she did minimal makeup. It’s not like it could get any worse, she thought bitterly. The concealer wasn’t much use.

Deciding to ignore the bruise, Daisy stood up, grabbed her backpack with her personal laptop and journal and headed to the canteen.

There weren’t many students around campus this early in the morning. Most were either asleep or nursing a hangover in their dorms. A few dedicated trainees were scattered amongst the different buildings, either in the gym or studying on their favourite bench. Daisy made a beeline for the canteen, hoping that no one had drank all the fresh coffee yet.

She slipped through the doors, sending small smiles to the students she made eye-contact with, faltering when her roving gaze reached a set of twinkling eyes the color of coffee. Maybe, she thought, I should go over and talk to him. What’s the worst that can happen?

She quickly poured herself a cup of coffee and grabbed a cinnamon raisin bagel from the pastry cart. Checking to be sure he wasn’t sitting with anyone (she wouldn’t want to intrude), Daisy walked around to the back of the large room, sitting in a spot diagonal from him.

After a few minutes of silence where Daisy ate her bagel and pretended not to feel his eyes on her, she turned and faced him.

“Good morning,” she said.

He dipped his head and raised his paper cup of coffee at the same time in response.

Does he not want to talk to me? Daisy questioned herself. She tried again. “So, is the coffee good?” He glanced at her cup that she had been sipping. Daisy recovered, “You know, in your opinion. I love the coffee here, the slightly burned aftertaste goes well with cream and sugar.΅

To her relief, he smiled. “Yeah, it’s good. I don’t usually use cream or sugar.”

Daisy raised her eyebrows, impressed. “Ah, more of a bare necessities, no-nonsense guy?”

His nose scrunched a little in thought, as if he was assessing his entire personality to see if it aligned with Daisy’s coffee psychology. He nodded finally, elaborating, “I was in the army. Most of us drank it black while deployed. I never got out of the habit. But, to answer your question, I like to think of myself as low maintenance.”

He sent her a small smile that had her insides melting just a bit. Daisy hid behind the rim of her coffee cup, trying to think of a response. Luckily, New Guy saved her.

“How do you drink your coffee?”

Daisy lowered her own paper cup, clearing her throat. “One half and half, just a bit of sugar. If I’m super tired I’ll add more.”

“So you probably adapt easily and have a deep hunger for answers to all your questions?”

Daisy’s eyes quickly flicked down to her coffee, wondering if her coffee order really exposed that much about her. Daniel laughed, his shoulders shaking with mirth. “I’m kidding. I noticed how you’re always in the computer lab before class, and Yo-Yo told me that you use that time to research.”

Daisy felt a blush creep up her neck. Yo-Yo knew New Guy? And gave him information about her schedule?

Daniel quickly explained, “We see each other in the halls a lot. And we have a class together. She noticed me in the lab and thought I knew you.”

Daisy relaxed. Yo-Yo had become increasingly more friendly to strangers the longer she spent at the Academy.

“I remember the first time I met her. She was so angry that SHIELD had stopped her from exposing the police in her city as corrupt. Our team was sent in to help her finish what she had started, destroy weapons and take down the corrupt members of the department. It was fun,” She chuckled.

Daniel watched her through his thin clear-frame glasses. She winced a little as her nose scrunched with laughter, recalling another story about a mission gone awry that Yo-Yo saved.

“How did you get that bruise?”

“What?”

He pointed to the spot on his face that mirrored the position of the bruise on hers. “The bruise. It looks like it hurts.”

Daisy shrugged, “Not as badly as getting shot. But you know, sometimes you punch the bag, sometimes the bag punches you.”

Despite the playful nature of the statement, Daniel couldn’t help but hear alarm bells in the back of his mind. She had been shot?!

Daisy noticed the change in Daniel’s demeanor and switched tactics, “It’s just a bruise. I wasn’t paying attention and the punching bag flew back and hit me in the face.”

Daniel laughed, becoming more and more intrigued with the enigma sitting across from him. Well, at least this enigma was beautiful, even if she had lost a fight to a punching bag.

A look of pure confusion overtook Daisy’s features. “Excuse me?”

Daniel’s face flushed bright red. He said that out loud. Daisy was still smiling though, Daniel let out a nervous chuckle. The two lapsed into an awkward silence. Daisy was finishing her bagel when he spoke up again.

“It was good talking to you,” he said softly.

Daisy’s eyes wandered his face with an unreadable expression. “Yeah, it was.”

He resisted the urge to offer to walk Daisy to wherever she was going as she headed out of the doors of the canteen, coffee with one half and half and pinch of sugar in hand.

————————————————————————————

hi hellooo! whatd you think? comments and notes are appreciated! (will go back and edit this later, for now i sleep)

tag list: @jaanulore

#agents of sheild #aos #dousy #timequake #fic #angst #fluff #fitzsimmons #mackelena #philindaisy #jemma simmons #leo fitz #daniel sousa #daisy johnson #/#melinda may

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abloomntime · 4 years

Text

A Bloom In Time Ch 29

(This is just a random slice of life chapter to fill the gaps before the next major event in the story. Sorta like one of those speed montages in shows or games.)

Days passed since that incident out with the mafia, and the entire thing had been pushed to the back of their minds as her or the girls got things settled. Most of the days Poppy spent watching television marathons with the girls since she found them all really interesting. Most of them was kiddy shows like Detective Pengiun. Science Owl's Magic Hour, etc. But there was also reruns of Cookie's cooking show. Poppy had to ask what reruns were and Bow kindly explained that they were episodes that already aired but were being shown again, rerun on air. Therefore being dubbed reruns. They were great if you wanted to rewatch a favorite episode of yours or series, or if there was an episode you missed, so you could have a chance to watch it. Poppy found it fascinating they could magically show endless shows without having to plug in a projector and record player. Besides that she finally got to see what kind of movies this Conductor person made. Most of them were serious, with great plot stories, drama, a wee bit of romance, but mostly action. Weired titles tho. The Good, The Bad, and The Swan. Gary Pecker High Goon. Blazing Beaks. And so on. She had to admit, for a bunch of owls they were pretty good. Most of Mr. Grooves stories on the other hand were to put it lightly eye soring. Yeah. Most of them have nice or even great plots, but it was usually blind sided by the flashing or bright lights that made her head sore. But there was a few good ones too in the bunch without blinding lights. Poppy was surprised to find out the children had even starred in some of their movies. Mr. Grooves being called The Big Parade, and Conductor's being called Murder On The Owl Express. They were low key, but still enjoyable....That WAS until she saw the complete and utter DANGEROUS situations those two were put through!! Who has a child jump from building to building tons of feet in the air being followed by rockets and sparks of electricity?! AND WHO MAKES A CHILD JUMP OVER BOMBS AND DISMANTLED TRAINS WHILE SHUTTING OFF A TIMED BOMB?! She asked the two about it horrified and they just shrugged it off like they did this kind of stuff everyday.

...

CLEARLY she was going to have to have a talk with those loony birds and give them a piece of her mind. If they expected her to be doing some death defying stuff like that then they were CLEARLY mistaken. Speaking of those two birds, she would be getting a notice from one of them very soon. The next day actually. She was just sleeping soundly on the attic floor (the girls had been nice enough to loan her a miniature pile of pillows to lay upon as to avoid sleeping anymore on cold hard wood) when a sound a came ringing out. She didn't pay very much attention to it first, because...well she was sleeping in and felt like getting some good shut eye from doing nothing but playing with two energetic girls in a limited space it too her a long time to crawl around in. Plus being two rooms over she didn't really hear it all too well. But two little kids running around sure did. Which is when she woke up to Hattie forcefully shook her awake against her will.

"Wh-what-"

"Get up!," hattie yelled practically in her ear making her yelp and sit up fast. Hand shooting up to clutch her ear as she tiredly blinked at the girl.

"What the world are you doin'?" She barely got time to ask before Hattie grabbed her hand and pulled. Telling her to get up and go to the phone. "Phone? What you mean a telephone?"

"Yeah! DJ Grooves wants to talk to you."

So the little alien had a telephone on this ship too? Huh. You learn something new everyday. And apparently Mr. Grooves wanted to speak to her? Huh. Ok. She'll get up. Poppy slowly and tiredly got up and made her way out of the attic, following Hattie down the ramp and and tiredly rubbing her eyes as she walked after her towards the machine room. Already groaning at the fact she'd be having to crawl through a small hallway again. But once she did, the sounds of grinding gears graced her ears as they rattled and worked. And found the girls huddled around what she definately recognized as something from her time. An old fashioned (well to the girls and everyone else it'd be very old fashioned by now but in her day it was a pretty new technology) phone stuck to the side of the wall and it looked like bow was holding up the end you could hear someone's voice from and speaking something but stopped when Poppy came tiredly walking towards her. Bow happily handed her the other end of the phone and Poppy nodded in thanks before holding said object to her ear to listen.

"H-Hello? *yawn*"

"DARLING!! Thank goodness you're awake!," the happy voice of Mr. Grooves boomed out from the other side of the phone making Poppy wince and pull her head away from the speaker. "I have wonderous news, Darling! Incredible, fantastic news!"

"You don't say," she muttered softly rubbing her ear.

"I found a young lady who could not only play one role but TWO in our little plays! Can you believe that!" Oh. So he found someone to fill in another role. Nice. "We're nearly meeting our quota for the entire staff!! There's still much things to prepare for like the scenes and of course, but by the end of next month I'm sure we'll have everything we'll need to start rehearsals. ....Considering if I can find someone else to fill the last few roles of course. The pressure's really getting to me, Darling."

"I'm sure ya'll find someone...*yaaaaaawn* Yer good at your job," Poppy complimented as an attempt to bring some ease to the nervous penguin.

"Darling, you are absolutely right! I'll keep you filled in on the juicy details as they go, for now don't forget to study up on those lines dear! DJ Grooves out!"

And then he hung up. What a way to start the morning.

This was falling in such a regular routine she was starting to lose track of time and days. Kinda hard to considering you couldn't really tell time from space and there wasn't any calenders around for her to really get a good idea on what day it was or how to calculate it all. Luckily she had plenty to do around the ship. The girls acted like they were a little disappointed Snatcher told them essentially to not leave the ship with or without Poppy without his say so first, so it was pretty much a grounding without being grounded. But luckily they had a remedy-.......Making Poppy play with her. Most of the girls' days the past few-...Weeks? Days?? Was filled with Poppy running around playing whatever games these two came up with from pillow fighting to storytime. She didn't mind of course but all of this was starting to wear down on her. She was going crazy from the limited space and just watching tv. But she had other things too to try out. Like cooking one of those giant fish she got.

Hattie had walked in on her in the kitchen one afternoon(??) with one of the fish in a pan and going through her cabinets sprinkling any herbs she recongized on it, wearing that cooking apron she bought from Mafia town. She didn't hear her walk up to her until she spoke curiously looking at the entire thing she was attempting to cook. "Whatcha doing?"

Poppy had jumped almost dropping some basil and blinked down at the young girl. "Oh..It's just you." She turned back to the fish. "Ah'm makin' lunch."

"With the fish??"

"Yep! There used to be this stream in the woods where I caught these here suckers all the time. Roasted them over a fire lots of nights and made a good meal. Where I'm from ya gotta be resourceful and make do with what ya had....I don't suppose ya'll have a fire place 'round here do ya?"

Hattie shook her head no before pointing to the over attached to the stove. "But I have this. Cookie uses this to make cakes." The child happily licked her lips. "AND COOKIES!! I love her cookies!!"

Poppy opened the strange door attached to the stove top and blinked at what was inside. "What is it?"

"A stove. You bake stuff in it."

".....THIS is a stove?," She rose a brow. "Where in tarnation are ya'll supposed ta put the wood and light the fire to heat this thing up ta bake??"

"...Um." Hattie peeked inside too slightly confused at Poppy's question ...before shrugging. "I don't know, but Cookie presses the big blue button there-" she pointed to a blue button at the headboard of the stove. "-and it starts to heat up."

"....Fascinatin'."

A stove and over that didn't need fire or wood to cook? Wow. Alien technology was sure something else wasn't it. Poppy made a mental note to ask Cookie to help her figure out this crazy contraption when she got the chance. For now she just pushed the seasoned fish into the oven and pushed the blue button Hattie had pointed to. Within half an hour of Poppy sitting there waiting, the thing got to be an impressive hot temperature. After a little while longer(and the girls asking her to read to them again while they waited), she got a whiff of some mouth watering roasted fish! She wasn't sure exactly HOW it worked and had to ask Hattie to turn it off(by pressing the same button again) but the three were treated to some of that delicious roasted fish. Poppy didn't like to brag or anything, and she wasn't the best cook, but she could make a darn good fish meal. It also took her a while to figure out how to use the laundry machine and dryer in the storage room as there wasn't any lines to hang the wet clothes on and she nearly had a heart attack when she pushed a button on the washer and water all of a sudden started spilling into it. Bow had to reassure her this was the way Snatcher always did it and sometimes Cookie if she had a lot of time on her hands-...paws. Another day(??) and again she was started to get frustrated and feel enclosed in whenever she couldn't walk around anywhere else besides the control room, attic, and kitchen. Until finally-

FINALLY!!

Snatcher decided to show his jack o lantern face again. The purple onion. He just popped up one day outta the blue so randomly and suddenly she nearly had a heart attack just walking in on him curiously waiting for her outside the machie room- But we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. It would be a MORE surprising coincidence after the fact she had yet ANOTHER call from Mr. Grooves, this time thankfully in the afternoon instead of early morning, no need to wake her up this time.

"DARLING!! SPLENDID FANTASTIC SPECTACULAR NEWS!! WE FINALLY MANAGED TO FILL ALL THE ROLES OF OUR SHOW!! OH IM SO HAPPY DARLING!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!"

Poppy was smart enough to hold the old phone away from her ear this time as she could hear him loud and clear through the device. "Oh, Im sure I can, Sir. That sounds delightful."

"IT IS DARLING!!! OH YOU MUST COME IN IMMEDIATELY FOR COSTUME FITTING!!"

"Wait...As in right now?"

"Oh no of course not! First thing tomorrow mourning, Darling! I want to make everything as perfect as possible!"

"Sure thing!"

Shortly after that the two said their good byes and she hung up before crawling her way back through the small hallway and back into the control room where she met none other than the man of the hour himself....Or should I say noodle ghost? Snatcher was waiting for her arms crossed and with that famous frown of his gazing as Poppy came in and paused standing up at the sight of him. Wearing that plain pink dress she bought some time ago.

"You're late!," he huffed, "You know my time is precious to me as an all powerful being like myself."

"Well, excuse me. But I will remind you I sorta have a second boss at the moment?" She frowned back. "Or did ya'll forget me stupidly gettin' mahself inta debt...again?"

He smirked. "Oh I didn't forget a thing, Red. I love the way you're always stumbling around like a frail leaf in the breeze.~"

"OH!!...PECK OFF YA ONION!!" She scowled more at him as he chuckled. "Do ya know how hard it is ta work two jobs and watch these lil guys at the same time?!"

"Welcome to MY world! And you know I could always scare you out of any debt you got yourself into with those pecknecks down there." He offered genuinely. "I may not look like it, but I'm very good at legal technicalities. I did want to be a lawyer at once upon a time!"

"....That's..actually very nice of ya to offer me, but hard pass. I got mahself into this mess and if I'm gonna survive on my own after this, ah need to learn how to work on my own out there. And I can't go back on my word after I caused so much trouble for Mr. Grooves and Mr. Loudmouth. And I already agreed to everythin'. I need to take responsibility and not just leave him with another problem." Snatcher stared at her for a moment before sighing and smiling widely again. Ah, Poppy. Always the stubborn old gal taking the weight ofworld on her shoulders. "What are you even doin' here anyways?," she asked eyeing him up and down, "It's not like ya'll drop by whenever ya want anyways, but why now?"

"Food delivery."

"What?"

One of those long noodle arms detached itself from his crossed arm position and pointed down to a small bag the size of the two kids rummaging through it. Food was flowing out of it with apples, lettace, and a few other food varieties falling out. Making her eyes go wide as a moment later Hattie pulled out a s bag of cookies and squeled in delight at them.

"I said Im not completely heartless," he spoke Snapping her out of her staring to look at him. "I get them food and make sure they're well fed. ...What? Did you think I wouldn't provide for them? It's been almost a month since you're little incident so I came like any good king would and supply my people."

One of his clawed hands patted Bow on the head when the little girl hugged his tail but Poppy didn't notice. Her eyes went as wide as puddles as she stared at him like a cartoon character. .....A...Almost a month?? .....A MONTH!?!? SHE HAD BEEN COOPED UP HERE JUST WATCHING CARTOONS, PLAYING, AND WHATEVER ELSE FOR A MONTH!? PECKING PECKNECKS!!! She loved the kids as they were darlings, BUT SHE NEEDED SOME OUTSIDE WALK AROUND WIDE AREA TIME!! FOR PECKS SAKE!!! ...Well, that would also explain why the food in the fridge was starting to lower quite a bit. But seriously!? He was gone for a whole pecking (almost) month and didn't bother to tell her or visit!? Gee. What a swell boss. Poppy groaned and shook her head ....before sighing and walking around him and picking up the bag from the two girls, who at the moment, was picking up the fruit that spilt out but stopped and followed after her as she walked.

"Well, thank you for that brilliant update of yers. But ah'm goin' to that fitting or whatever tomorrow an' if ya'll don't like it then come with or too bad. But I ain't gonna beat 'round the bush anymore with these jobs."

Snatcher grumbled but SOMEHOW ended up agreeing to teleporting the trio into the Dead Bird Studios the very next day. Kinda surprised to find Poppy the one up and adam with the two girls still yawning but visibly excited they'd be getting to go somewhere today finally after being cooped up all the time. The teleporting worked as quickly as any other time he did it, when the girls and her grabbed a hold of his clawed hands. Purple energy completely took over the world around them like the many times he's done this before and swallowed them all whole, she was pretty used to this by now so she just stood patiently. Poppy closed her eyes when purple invaded her vision and the air suddenly shifted again to that blazing hot sunny desert area she saw before with the famous studios in front of them all. With Poppy in the lead the girls excitedly followed and Snatcher like in mafia town resumed to sticking into a shadow again. But this time Hattie's shadow. The two girls were babbling excitedly about how they were going to see Mr. Grooves put together their favorite story right before them. And speaking of said penguin, he was awaiting their arrival as soon as they stepped through the dimly lit hallway and into the lobby. The secritary was there too, the bird briefly looked up when the trio of gals came in but only gave them a glance before looking back to his computor screen and going back to work. Mr. Grooves lit up as soon as his eyes landed on Poppy and his large beak curled up in a smile.

"DARLING!! You're finally here!," he shouted sounding almost nervous as he rushed up to them frazzked and Poppy blinked as he grabbed her hand. He was sweating a bit from worrying. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come!" Before she could say a word he turned and pulled her towards a pair of the giant pair of the doors to the right. "Come, come. There's so much to get done and so little time to do it!!"

"O-Oh..Ok?"

The doors creaked open with a massive creak and the sounds and sights that greeted her when they opened astonished her. The place would've been very dark if it wasn't for the giant lights on the ceiling shining brightly down onto the MASSIVE hussle n bussle of the people-...penguins inside. There must've been(at least to her) hundreds of penguins behind the door everywhere. Carrying things around, pushing giant colorful props or giant crates on wagons for whatever reason, a few penguins with headsets and clipbourds were ordering things into them and checking things over and over again on the papers in their flippers. Apprently it must've been surprising for the girls too because they were gawking around too as they walked. As soon as Mr. Grooves stepped in almost all the penguins who weren't moving things turned their attention to him as he briskly walked past leading the girls.

"Mr. Grooves," a lady penguin called out nervously. "Night Scene three collasped under the weight of too many stars hanging off it-"

"Remove any unneeded weight, but keep as many shiny stars as you can!," he quickly shouted back.

"Silver or gold ones!?"

"BOTH!!"

"Mr. Grooves! The steel poles for the support system came in-"

"Give them to the engineering team immediately!!"

"Sir! Coffee and lunch for staff arrived."

"Pass it out immediately!"

A whole bunch of 'Sir!'s and 'Mr. Grooves!''s and "Boss!"s was thrown by the multiple penguins around them and Mr. Grooves impressively shouted back while manevouring Poppy around and forward the moving crowd. Sometimes completely stopping her before she hit something before suddenly tugging her forward again making her almost trip multiple times. The girls not far behind him dodging between them all with much more impressive skilled than Poppy. Easily keeping up with the two.

"W-Where in tarnation are ya'll takin' me?", Poppy managed to force out before ducking under a plank of wood being carried passed them.

"Costume fitting!," he answered back quickly, "We're already ten minutes behind scheduale!"

It was seven in the morning. But that didn't matter to the rushing penguin it seemed when he suddenly made a sharp turn to the right which made Poppy yelp and almost trip over her own foot but luckily she didn't. usually she REALLY didn't like being pulled around and would've yanked her hand away long ago but she was kinda lost in this kinda environment and would've probably gotten lost again. The hallway was a little quieter but you can still hear the noise from behind them. The hallway was a lil more dimly lit than the giant room back there but they could still see the many red doors lining the left of them and they could DEFINATELY see the crew of people up ahead of them. Four humans(2 men 2 women), and two owls. One of the owls looked older than the other, a few grey feathers sticking out here and there, with rhinestone glasses a pink dress and a pin cushion strapped to her wrist. The other female owl behind her was holding a mountain of folded fabric and a small suitcase on top of it. The owl scowled angry, wings on her hips, and tapping her foot against the floor as Mr. Grooves ran up to her out of breath and wheezing.

"You're late," she stated calmly despite her face.

"I know, I know." He apologised still nervous. "Apologies for the misunderstanding, Ms. Talon. I should've told her what time to be here but all this pressure has been building on me I forgot."

The owl lady sighed and waved him off. "No matter. Now that she's here I can get the measurements to finish these orders."

Measurements?," Poppy asked curiously.

"For the costumes," Ms. Talon answered, shifting her glasses and looking Poppy over, "You must be the princess. It's about time you got here. I only have so much time to work on these and making costumes of this scale on such short notice aren't easy."

"Uh..Sorry, Ma'am."

"Oh don't apologize." A familiar figure stepped forward with long brown hair and copper eyes smiled at Poppy when the red head looked over at her. "After all woman are known to be fashionably late.~"

" Ms. Hazelle!" Poppy's face lit up seeing the familiar face of the witch. Making two yellow eyes pop out from Hattie's shadow at the mention of the name. "What are you doing here?"

Hazelle smirked and waved her off. "Don't call me miss. Im not that old.~ But to answer your question, I'm going to be your fabulous coworker for the movie-"

"REALLY?!," Bow asked wide eyed at Hazelle who nodded.

"Yep! You're looking at the evil step sister of this Starella character you're playing. I figured what better way to get to know my pal's new friend better-"

A wing shoved between them interrupting their conversation and turned Poppy's attention back onto the elderly bird as the door next to them opened and she gestured Poppy to it. "If you'll please? I have much work to do."

Poppy happily oblidged and walked through the door followed by both lady birds and waved a quick good bye to Hazelle. At the same time another penguin had rushed up to Mr. Grooves babbling wildly about something catching on fire and they needed him right away to assess the damages and the panicked penguin boss quickly agreed rushing away to help with whatever was wrong. Leaving the group of humans awaiting to be measured. No one noticed the way Hattie's shadow enlarged and creeped along the floor and up the wall until it was level headed with Hazelle who regarded it with a lazy gaze and smile. As two angry yellow eyes glared at her very core.

"W H A T A R E Y O U D O I N G?!," he whispered to her with bit and anger in his tone dripping with each word he spoke.

"Oh come on. You know I couldn't just pass up this chance to see how it plays out. Besides. Maybe I can help when things finally go south from all this mess building up. Can't take a broom and sweep it under the carpet this time, Snatchy."

"I. Am. WORKING ON IT!!" Hazelle shushed him when one or two people turned to them...before shrugging and going back to talking to whoever they were originally talking to. "....I just need some time to figure out the best way to tell her is all."

"What have you been doing all this time in that forest? Sitting on your butt reading and doing whatever you usually boringly do and avoiding it?"

".....No," he didn't sound very convincing and Hazelle groaned facepalming. "I swear. I know it. I just KNOW this is gonna end badly."

The girls were behind them and were surprised to see Mr. Thor and Mr. Timophy from the forest there. Apparently the museum they had gone on an expidition on had long sense closed after their freezing for who knows how long and had parted ways with Mr. Oldster looking for more work and had stumbled upon Mr. Grooves's ad in the newspaper. And had sucessfully taken two important roles in his play. With Mr. Thor as the Milkyway Prince and Mr. Timophy as Starella's Father. Well that was all swell and dandy with the beefy mafia woman with them being the evil step mother. Looks like it was all coming together and they excitedly babbled to themselves about how this would be the best show ever when another familiar face popped up next to them in the form of a small boy around their age.

"Timmy! Hi!," Bow greeted and fist bumped him when he held up his hand.

"Whatcha doing here?," Hattie asked him.

He casually shrugged. "Hazelle's been hired here and I wanted to tag along, eh? A real movie studio and getting to see the action in person. Pops thought it was 'a good educational experience' as he put it."

"Sounds like, Moon. Where is he anyways?" They hadn't seen him in like-...Forever.

"The spook the spook got shook him pretty good. He's staying in the comfort of that empty ghost zone for the time being." He Gave the two of them a curious look before asking. "By the way I meant to ask about that red haired lady who just went into that room. Who is she?"

"Oh. You mean Poppy?" Hattie asked and Timmy nodded and she shrugged. "She was locked in the crazy peckneck's mansion."

"Ya mean when noodle man stole your time piece? Moonjumper told me all about that part when he got home."

Hattie sighed. "It's a long boring story."

"I got time. Tell me."

And so Hattie spilt the whole story to him. In the mean time Poppy was getting poked and prodded by measuring tapes, fabric scrapes quickly cut from the base pattern were safety pinned around her. Ms. Talon explained that the base pattern was an experiment she'd made to make sure all the fabric pieces would fit right and that Poppy was able to move around comfortably in the actual costume and constantly asked how the movement felt and if anything was too tight, too loose, needed to be adjusted a size, if she had trouble walking around in it, etc. All the while at most it took maybe twenty to thirty minutes tops of Ms. Talon carefully walking Poppy move around in the dress and making adjustments whereever she decided needed it the most. Poppy was just going with this because she was the dress expert after all, and she learnt with everything going on for now it was better to just go with it unless she absolutely found it something she didn't want or really agree with. And so far there was nothing wrong with trying on a dress she was gonna have to use anyways. When the old bird was finally satisfied she had Poppy take off the prototype dress with her help and soon after sent her back out before calling in the next person in, which by coincidence happened to have been Hazelle. Also ironically none of the adults before this had noticed the kids chatter, but if Snatcher did he would've definately risked revealing himself when the girls told Timmy the entire tale of how Poppy came to be as his purple eyes widened in wonder.

"You're all kidding!"

Hattie shook her head. "Nope! That really happened."

"So...Finding all that hidden gold in the attic then? That was real too?," Timmy asked.

"Yep! We still got the gold skull to prove it! Like some pirate!," Hattie stated proudly but stopped when Poppy came over and smiled at them. "Hi Poppy!"

"Hey, sugarcube. Whatcha lot talkin' bout?," she asked.

"Hattie was just telling me the exciting discovery of you finding gold in the attic," Timmy answered quickly with a sweet smile. "Is it true there was a whole bunch of gold hidden under the staircase shaped like a castle?"

Unsuspecting anything Poppy only smiled at the little boy and nodded. "Yep! It's a long story but ah would appreciate it if ya'll wouldn't go 'round tellin' everyone 'bout that."

"Of course, Ma'am. I wouldn't dream of gossiping about something like that. It wouldn't be very kind of me would it?"

Her smile went wider as Snatcher glared at him from over her shoulder. Giving Timmy a suspicious glare. "Have ya'll been enjoyinh yer stay here then?"

He nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. It's very interesting to see all the action behind the cartoons and it's nice to take a break from magic lessons for once. Have you been liking it?"

She chuckled nervously and glanced back up the hallway to see Mr. Grooves chatting with another penguin who handed him a tall stack of papers. "You can say that. Truthfully Im nervous 'bout when the real action here is gonna start."

Timmy nodded. "Totally understandable, Miss. This does take a bit of work eh? Then again a wise man once said 'things get hard before they get better'. So you should have no need to worry!"

Snatcher couldn't stop the suspicious look he threw at the boy but he had to duck back into Hattie's shadow before the crowd of waiting people and penguins noticed a shadow with yellow eyes and freaked out. They were only there for a little while longer as Snatcher wanted to have one or two more words with Hazelle before they were all teleported back to the ship. But before that Mr. Grooves managed to pass out the stacks of papers to all the actors and actresses, explaining that it was the scripts for the play with their along with everyone's movements, places, and lines. Since they wouldn't be starting rehearsals until they could gaurentee the scenes would be completely be put together and for everyone to study, study, STUDY these scripts so they'd be prepared and read and to practice the movements and lines there in the mean time. Ok. Seemed simple enough in her eyes. The thing was about as think as your average library book and was expertly detailed and written to be very clear for everyone to read. Hats off to the script writer for their excellent skills. They were able to exchange a few words with Hazelle and Timmy before turning again to make their exit straight back home to Snatcher's orders, but not before Snatcher hissed one last thing at Hazelle.

''You BETTER not do anything foolish!," he hissed a warning at her to which she glared back.

"The only one acting 'foolish' around here is YOU, Prince. I'm just enjoying the back seat view in case I'm needed. If I was you, I'd be taking your own advice."

Snatcher gave her a blank look before silently slinking away from her and back down the halls after the girls who'd no doubt be dodging the working Penguin mob again. Hazelle nor anyone else noticed the thoughtful look Timmy was giving all of them and only snapped to attention once Hazelle decided it was also time for them to leave. And get him back home to Moonjumper who'd be eagerly awaiting his arrival back home and Timmy's progress report on what Hattie told her all about Poppy. And tell him when he arrived home and Hazelle had left they did.

"My boy. What did you find out?"

"....*sigh* Sit down. It's gonna be a wild one."

The days were passing filled with reading and trying to make heads and tails of the practically book Poppy was handed by the penguin and would often go over the lines and movements in her head and spare time. She once compared the script to the actually Starella book and noticed a the lines and the movements described in the script were the same in the book, only more detailed since this would be a real life action play and not just a picture book being read to them. They would have actual people like Poppy and Hazelle be on stage for the whole veiwing pleasure. The whole thing made her get MAJOR butterflies in her stomach especially since she didn't know WHEN she was about to get called back for actual rehearsals with people and filming crew for LIVE television. But she pushed on. Practicing herself (or at least trying to)in the attic with no one else watching and trying to play and manage two energentic lil girls at the same time and taking care of them the next couple of days too. Bow having a slightly much more clingy but kinda cute bond building between the two. Poppy smiled whenever she agreed to play pretend with her or helped her comb through her curls and in turn letting her and Hattie braid her hair or doing whatever do they wanted to try out on her. And Hattie asking her every so often to lift something as she was 'So cool!' in her words when she did things like a superhero. And of course excitedly asking her to read to them every night and sometimes during the day. Mostly it was Starella since they were so excited about the play coming out of their favorite bedtime story. Which often included Poppy tucking the two girls in afterwards and leaving to flop her own exhausted self into the small bed made of pillows she had made for herself. And it was one night when they were sleepily blinking against the soft pillows as Poppy read that she got the surprise of her life.

"Starella happily agreed and her father returned. Upon hearing what her Stepmother and Stepsister had done while he was away, he banished them from his home never to return again." She turned to the last page where it showed a very elaborate wedding and the Prince and Starella being the ones to be wed. "After a few years of letting their love and fondness for each other grow, Starella and the prince were finally married. The End." Poppy closed the book and stood up. Stretching out her back and yawning herself as she walked over to the night stand beside the bed with the lit lamp. She found that the night stand would be the book's new home for a while since they kept requesting it so much. Not that she actually had any objections to reading it so much, after all she needed as much info on the book as possible. The book was placed down and the lamp shut off cutting off most of the light in the large room minus the nightlight and Poppy smiled at the two children trying to blink awake at her. "Ok. Bed time you two."

Bow smiled at the lady pulling the rocket ship patterned blanket up to their shoulders. "Poppy...Can I call you mama?"

The blanket stopped and blue eyes looked at Bow at the sudden question- "I wanna call you mom too!" Hattie piped up shifting a little bit closer towards Bow's side of the bed and Poppy's shocked gaze snapped over to the girl who's eyes lit up with even more sparkle.

Mom?....A REAL MOM!! Just for them. Just like Snatcher said. A mom who could pecking bench press a mafia, read them stories, and was gonna be a star!! Poppy on the other head completely blanked out as if her brain was a computor and she couldn't process the info she heard properly. ....Mom? Mom who? Her?! Oh NO! No. Surely they couldn't have been referring to Poppy herself. I mean her a mom? Ha! In her dreams. Don't let it fool you, she absolutely adored children. Thought they were the cutest things since rosebuds, and these two were no exception. She loved Hattie's adventerous and free spirit. Reminded her of herself when she was a little girl. And Bow was such a sweet little girl if not also adventurous in her own ways, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't upset these two sweet kids didn't have any more family beyond the kooky ghost. BUT HER A MOM?! Honestly she's never seen herself having any kind of children in her life let alone a mom!!

"Uh- ....Who me?," she managed to stutter out through her stupor finally before shaking her head. "Y-Ya'll must be mistaken. Ya wouldn't w-want me as a mum. I wouldn't be good at it."

"B-But...You're always telling us stories," Bow reasoned face a little crestfallen, "And playing with us."

"And cooking and cleaning and you're really, REALLY cool!!," Hattie added, "And protecting us."

"W-Well yes. T-That's what I'm supposed to do b-because Snatcher asked me too-"

"So you love, Snatcher?," Hattie asked leaning her head forward to look at Poppy better. "If you guys are a couple then that really makes you our Mom!"

Poppy did a complete 180 stop, rewind, and replay of hattie's question in her mind before a pink rose in her cheeks and she stammered. "W-WHA- Now d-don't you get those silly thoughts in yer head! Your daddy's a very nice man- uh....Ghost. But that don't mean we're cohootin' like love birds! The most we are is...maybe pals, but that's 'bout it. Ya'll don't have a step mum-''

"We don't have any moms."

The sad tone in Bow's voice made Poppy pause in anything else was about to say. That reality hit hard in her mind as all of Snatcher's words came a rushing back to her-

"They're orphans." " They have no one else." "I don't know anything about Bow's past and neither does she. As far as I know she was raised in a crummy orphanage her whole life before she decided to run away and get tangled up in the mess Hattie made when she first arrived." "Turns out she never had anything there to begin with." "I don't know how long she was out there and I don't know why she wanted to go back to where she came from or what happened to make her flee again. Never asked. But I also never questioned it when she came back and decided not to leave again. She's a smart kid. Here there's people who care about her and want her to be safe."

They...They really didn't have anyone else besides themselves and that ghost. Any potential moms weren't here for whatever reason. They probably didn't even have a constant lady figure around to play with or to look up to. But there was one giant problem with this...Poppy wasn't a mother. She never planned or really wanted to be a mother, and she wasn't planning on staying here forever. She had her own life plans ahead of her she wanted to fullfill. But-....What was she supposed to tell these girls!? They really had no mother to look up to and she wasn't interested in being their mum-

"Don't you love us?," Bow innocently asked in a low voice both children gazing at her with large almost worried eyes.

Poppy still sat there in an uncomfortable silence, the sudden question making any answer die on her tongue immediately after gazing into those sad inoccent eyes of the kids who literally saved her life on one or two occasions, set her free, and honestly made her smile more than she had for a long time. Life almost felt normal behind the chaotic mess it really was.

"Of course I do.....Ya'll may..c-call me that if ya really want to. Ah don't mind."

She may have been lying to herself on that last part but it was too late to take any of that back now as she slowly pulled the blanket the rest of the way up and stood there watching as they fell asleep with happy smiles on their faces. Their new mother. Her a new mother. Watching over her children before her emotional departure to the control room. How does she keep getting herself into these situations? HOW!? How was she supposed to be dealing with any of this now that she was a 'mother' on top of the giant pile of mess she was supposed to be cleaning up herself. Two debts and an (not sure if she wanted or not) title for two little girls' happiness. Things couldn't possibly get anymore worse for her. The silence of the control room she crawled into was one good thing at least. It could give her peace of mind knowing that the only sounds came from Rumbi as he softly swept to and fro everywhere. It was a blessing really. All she needed while passing the large windows as she took a glance out to look at the beautiful world down below....And was met with the twitching figure of red eyes pressing against the glass.

She screamed.

#Snatcher

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jawbreakers2015 · 5 years

Text

Player Profile: Hang

avid modder, occasional TO and montage video producer from Germany top 12 in the Jawbreakers Stunfest Qualifier (artwork of Drop by Kagu)

What names do you go by?

I used to go by Troke for the entirety of April. Which was based on a dumb coincidence where I talked to Neer and had one of my usual mobile spelling errors and I wrote "I'm having ha troke" instead of "having a stroke".

I wanted to go away from "Hang Boy" since quite some time as I specifically wanted to get rid of the "Boy" and just "Hang" felt wrong and was still associated to Hang Boy anyway. But I guess I'm back to that now.

Reason to why I wanted to rid myself of "Boy" was as simple as me linking my online persona to my OC (By choosing her for profile pictures on basically any platform) which then of course lead people to believe she is a male based on the thought "Hey this is Hang Boy. So the profile picture must also be Hang Boy".

The name Hang Boy btw occurred just as I started my first step into the internet, when I was a big fan of the Binding of Isaac. So i needed an online name and I ventured through Isaac related things. Which was when I came across the Tarot card "Hanged Man". So I just took that and adjusted a bit.

How do you feel about your performance in this tournament?

Was pretty okay. I didn't expect to get far into it. Although I'm a bit sad I didn't make the Top 8 picture. Only needed one win more as well.

However I would have been disappointed in everyone else, if they allowed for me to reach Top 3. So good that didn't happen.

What was your strategy preparing for and competing in the tournament?

I haven't played Blaze in weeks. The only times I played recently was to get some recordings for a Toxic montage. Right before the tournament I was more worried to finish my Isaac run. Which I did win!

And during the tournament was pretty much just "Turn some nice music on, jam to it, play some Nitro, do some silly cuff shenanigans, do dumb parry grab down throws so the viewers can laugh over something".

I did "fly" with Nitro in one match but sadly it wasn't streamed so only Hellraiser was able to see the glory of Flying Cuff™.

youtube

Which was your hardest match of the tournament?

Hellraiser I suppose. He did kick me out of it. I never really played him or saw him play and he didn't fall for my aggressive playstyle, so it was a tough time.

What surprised you most about the tournament?

Cherry's second place finish. I know he's good, I think he's underrated even.

But second place is a really good finish. Even more so beating JawDrop since, in my opinion, he has some of the craziest tech and can be really really confusing to play against.

(Yea he also has weird lag even tho he lives in France but whatever :p)

Is there anyone you didn’t face that you wish you did?

I would have wanted to play Defur if possible. To some degree I see his entrance as a sort of meme entry. But jokes aside and game aside, I can only take my hat off to this man and his effort for the tournament scene.

Sadly didn't get to play Daio. It feels like a tradition to face off against him in FellowsTV hosted tournaments. Which always goes the same way tbf. He counters my playstyle hard, I'm annoyed to play against him, don't bother changing my playstyle in order to win, get demolished. But the tradition counts!

I'd put Neer in the same boat. Hate playing against him but it just kinda has to be.

How did you get into Lethal League?

A friend bought it for me. We played a couple of games, he had to leave. I went into QM, found Garu, got absolutely demolished, he friended me and pulled me into it.

I specifically remember seeing his Latch corpse juggles and thinking "Man this is so cool, I want to be able to do this too". So right of the bat I started to play for the style, which is what I still go by.

Style > Efficiency

It feels bad not having paid for LL nor Blaze but I bought LL for a bunch of friends so guess that checks out.

What's your current Lethal League experience?

450+ hours in LL 340 hours in Blaze (As of now. 26.4.2019) And a giant bunch of hours of community interaction and modding.

I was very excited when asked to be beta testing and it fulfilled a childhood dream of being in video game credits.

Despite only getting into Beta a month before release, I stacked up 90 hours before the game came out. Lots of 9 hour playtime days. It was massive fun.

I bought almost all of the merch...got most signed by Tim & Dion too. I went to the Netherlands twice to meet TR. It was fun, they are cool people. Watching Dion doing a live dance off was pretty rad ngl.

I brought self made cheesecake the second time, but Tim had to get it into the building since they check your bags for normal visitors and it wasn't allowed to bring food.

I'll never forget the sight of Tim with his big bag looking like he's smuggling a bomb into a convention.

Who are your main/side/counter character picks?

Everything. So yes random, it's random.

However I most enjoy playing Nitro because of all the dumb things he can do. Especially flying, cuff storage (specifically for down angle on the ground, to just pull a little bit forward) and half pull.

Doombox is also very fun. Special>bunt>smash>parry>special>repeat can chain pretty often on some opponents and is hilarious.

The only characters I "despise" playing are Toxic and Sonata. But only because I'm really bad with them.

What are your favourite character outfits?

Dust and Ashes. Just their whole design.

For real tho. There's not really skins that stick out to me since I use my own modded ones.

Can you share your favourite/most used custom outfit?

Hm I missed that that's not "outfits"...well take a load of skins! In order

Mothyman Jeviman Spacetor Golden Switch Drop Palette Sonata Supercharged Latch PaDice-a the Rapper Skull Grunt Supercharged Grid Supercharged Doombox Dropbox FYouBox Nitro with a blue, white and mint color scheme I made for every character and lastly my Toxic skin with that same color scheme

What are your stage preferences?

Idc. I play random so who really cares. I guess insert the usual "Paradise field eclipse succs!!!"

What input method do you use?

PS4 Controller Dpad for movement L1 Bunt R1 Swing R2 Grab

I used to play LL on a cheap SNES controller using only face buttons. When I was over at Dutch Comic Con with Serchiot I played a couple games of Blaze with his PS4 controller and really liked his layout and the feel of the controller. So I just sneakily stole his layout and got myself a PS4 controller.

Coming from all face buttons, I needed some time to get used to it. But in my opinion it's just superior this way.

How do you make your character montage videos?

I have two ways of recording clips. Just consciously recording with OBS or putting Shadowplay on and saving every time something cool happens. I usually just boot up Blaze and jump into ranked to get some games in. With the Toxic montage it was a bit different since I now have a 4K monitor but 4K can hardly be recorded at 60fps and setting the output resolution in OBS to 1080p got me weird screen effects. So every time I went to record, I put the resolution of my monitor to 1080p in order to at least get that in good quality. Then I just cut all the good clips out of the recordings and mix ‘n’ match ‘em. What's usually the hardest decision is what music to use. There's been a couple of songs that I'd like to use, but they either don't fit over Blaze gameplay, don't fit my playstyle or were just the wrong length.

My two favourite Montages are definitely for Candyman and Nitro. Candyman took a long way to develop, because I just wanted to show off so much. It's one of the few montages where I actually asked higher skill players for games instead of jumping into ranked. Picking the song was really hard, I was only sure I wanted a Klaus Veen track, but OD V2 was too mainstream and most others were too short. So in the end I opted for two songs with a break in between the montage. Splitting the clips into two sets, each song one. With the second part containing what I considered the more hype bursts.

And for Nitro I actually had the montage pretty much done, but I wasn't too happy with it. Still planned to just upload it like that tho. However when I saw the Nitro voice actor interact with a community member in a way that could only be described as "incredibly wholesome", I was inspired to redo most, if not all, of the clips and do the best I could. For the first time actually going into training mode to lab some combos (mostly corpse juggles tbf) and eventually learning Flying Cuff™ too. Watching JawDrops Blazin' Combo video and taking a slice off the Nitro plays there. Which resulted in a montage I am very happy with.

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What other games do you play?

It differs from time to time.

The only games I always come back to are retro games like SMW, CTR or something like Mario Kart 8D. Which I always enjoy playing at local tournaments and pretty successfully so even. People just can't handle it when someone plays with one hand.

Atm I also like playing TBoI Rebirth.

Will you come to Stunfest?

Probably not. Driving/Flying over to France is just very expensive. I would love to meet all my Baguettes (Lusked, Jawdrop, Aru and Lalou, who stated he can't make it due to exams, yes I know). But exams and the neer-ing end of my apprenticeship is leaving a lot of work to be done.

So it probably won't fit into my schedule. However never say no! Trips to Blaze events aren't uncommon for me.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to the community?

Play the game for fun, not for glory.

Stop rubbing yourself for an imaginary title that doesn't mean anything as there's not even any competition for it.

I can't stress enough how great Soda City Funk by Tim Legend is. Go listen to it right now.

And for my last words. Be more like Kota. And remember, We love Ramkat <3

#Jawbreakers #Lethal League Blaze #Player Profile #Hang Boy #Hang #Europe #Jaw Breakers #Lethal League #Team Reptile

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mustinvestigate · 7 years

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stream of consciousness headcanon…ish…thing…

...which owes entire countries’ national debts to @niceteeth-nastysmile‘s health & food canon post and @adistraughtthought‘s on MacCready’s teeth and why Lucy was just beyond brilliant.

And this is all fic-related ponderings of general standards of personal upkeep in post-apocalyptia and their divergence from vault or pre-war sensibilities and how exactly romance could surmount this, which doesn’t really earn “above the fold” status, so…

So it’s generally held in fandom lore that folk are too busy surviving to truck much with hygiene, a thought which derails the sexiness of many T+ fics before they start. Like, “We’ve been trekking across the desert nurturing a deadly two-person epidemic of UST and, oops, convenient cave-in, we’re trapped together…carrying several days’ worth of sweat and battle muck in non-breathable armor we seemingly never change, without water to drink or freshen up with, and, y’know, let’s just sit in opposite cave chambers and breathe through our mouths until rescue comes, ok?”

And a vault dweller or pre-war person would live in suspended state of horror at the miasma of human funk and yellowed snaggleteeth when they have any at all, unable to hold a civil conversation no matter how high their charisma stat. As for romancing, well…nope. Nope nope nope.

Except, in settlements at least, with more pooled resources and storage space and security to allow people to spend time on less essential tasks like making tallow soap and extra under-clothing to change regularly and water to wash clothing and bodies, they’d totally raise standards to at least those of a modern week-long camping trip, right? Being clean and in fresh clothing is one of those small achievable luxuries, on the level of toys and games or cards for communal entertainment, that makes a huuuuge difference in feeling like you’re living, not just surviving. And with teeth, well, humans have been cleaning their teeth (albeit sometimes in ways that could not have been kind to gums or enamel) since we’ve been human. Morning breath and stuck-in food bits have apparently always been pretty high on the short list of activities worth spending limited energy on fixing.

Also often found in human settlements? Doctors, or at least some form of medical-type professionals to push for improved sanitation and enough cleanliness to minimise the spread of disease, not to mention heal injuries or perform simple dentistry or help prevent/treat substance abuse and all sorts of other ailments that lead to one being unable to maintain a comfortable-ish body.

(Aside for ghouls: although they’re described in-game as smelling like rotting flesh, I call bullshit. The smell of rot comes from decay, and by definition, things which are decaying are in the process of existing increasingly…uh…less so. [I don’t know, I can’t word good today, ok? Ahem.] And since ghouls are canonically unplagued by senescence [see? Fancy words!], there’s no decay beyond a certain level of damage that would produce that particular offensive smell. And further still since the skin damage would probably render most of their sweat glands gone or non-functional anyway, they’d possibly even lack the traditional human eau du ew at the end of a hard day’s farming. Y’all just decided they smell bad because you don’t like how they look – real nice, post-apocalyptic humans. Real. Nice.)

People living outside of settlements, though…they might be a different story. Like, raiders? Forget it. You’d smell ‘em coming a mile away, where they may be gasping their last due to catastrophic bacterial infection from what started as a wee molar cavity. They’re not expending energy on small personal-upkeep luxuries, or value stealing them from those who do.

Non-sociopathic nomadic types, like traders or mercenaries or people who don’t have useful skills or can’t afford to buy into a settlement (however it works when there’s no pre-war savior throwing away land for free), where carrying space is very limited and they likely don’t have much time or energy for non-essential luxuries…yeah, they might be closer to what we picture as a standard post-apocalyptic citizen. Like…in today’s terms…your stereotypical European gap-year backpacker. You’d certainly bathe and wash clothes when the opportunity and supplies came to hand, but wouldn’t go out of your way unless your red and orange Maslows were all in the black, and if your yellow, green, and blue were already in the pink, why bother?

(Is that a coherent joke? Probably not. Requires googling. But we strike on!)

Hence, in a slightly roundabout way, we come to MacCready’s teeth, and, further, the impact therein on writing a romance with a pre-war character. Or, really, any of the romanceable companion options, but fanon, and Bethesda going out of their way to make him the only one with bad teeth, seem to hold that MacCready’s a special case. He grew up LARPing Lord of The Flies, defiantly proud that there were no adults to make them clean anything they didn’t want to, and he married a girl (brilliant doctor or not) who was part of the same culture and tolerant of near-toxic personal hygiene or at the very least, since they seemed to be on the road when she tragically died, was biding her time until they settled down to enforce better standards.

(And, seriously, Bethesda, just admit it’s the same character as the Lucy he was best buddies with instead of someone who just happened to have the same name…except that does mean that sweet girl died terribly…and now I no longer know what I want to believe. Huh.)

And a pre-war professional lady, one who’d’ve had to maintain a polished image as a non-negotiable element of her career, she’d get past this…how?

Actually…even writing this out, it still doesn’t seem insurmountable. For years, I shared a very small office with a large, manly fellow who didn’t wear deodorant, worked out before work, and ate a lot of fish-heavy lunches. It’s amazing how quickly the human nose shrugs and moves the goal-posts, particularly for lovely people you get on with, or when everyone around you’s more or less at the same level of smell, or when you’re also working out and coming in kinda sweaty and, you know, we’re all human here, right, why are we so dang picky?

And my version of Nora, for all she prefers pretty dresses and parties, isn’t averse to dirty fingernails. She was in the military, had all her hair shaved off and slogged through muddy obstacle courses and dug latrines and everything; she went hunting with her father and helped out in his plumbing shop, getting elbow-deep in animal viscera and worse. A filthy soldier-type would definitely be on her experience spectrum with probably no more judgement than welp, try to stay upwind when possible, even that forgotten after she’s been in the same outfit herself for a couple of weeks.

But the teeth, man, there’s something moreish about bad teeth, right? There’s not just the aesthetics of non-white, non-straight teeth (trust me…having moved to a country [unfairly] famous for poor-quality dentistry, I can report that uniformly white, straight chompers quickly become the weird-looking alternative) but the visceral reaction to class comma lack of, to an indicator not just of “poor” but “poor and not trying to do better.”

Like, I grew up what’s politely called white working class (in a family that mostly passes leisure time with drinking, Fox News, and stockpiling weapons of dubious origins, so, y’know, shruggy-emoticon), and you bet all of us cousins had braces. We were going to get good grades and have office jobs. Our parents were real touchy about terms like “redneck” or “okie” and wouldn’t admit to liking country music. There was something different about the kids who lived in the same area but didn’t get braces. We weren’t encouraged to make friends of them, and as for dating…well…the bad teeth on a significant other brought home would carefully, one could say pointedly, not be mentioned, but every other possible flaw would be.

In college, I dated a mysterious guy I met on Match.com, who wasn’t white and who had the worst teeth I’d ever seen in real life. They were somewhere between ferengi and pirate and I’m sad to say they were the first thing anyone would notice about him. We ended up dating for two bloody years, even talked about marriage, and the funny thing? I never found out what the deal was with those awful, awful teeth.

At first, I didn’t bring it up because, well…how bad did his childhood have to be, that no one made him brush, no one took out a loan to get him in braces? Like, bad teeth were so intrinsically linked with lower-class deprivation in my mind that I just could not even broach the topic with someone of a different ethnic background. And, anyway, he turned out to be solidly middle-class from birth, held two degrees and a software engineering cubicle job that required a tie, even on Fridays. And by that point, well…if the teeth were the first thing you noticed, the second was that he was bubbly and goofy and sweet, and when months later someone looked at a photo of us and asked, “Oh dear, what happened to that poor boy’s teeth?”, it genuinely took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about.

So, my conclusion: even when one’s brought up to see poor hygiene and bad teeth as viscerally, mockably horrifying…as romantic obstacles, they’re quite surmountable. Like, there’d be some half-hearted stocking up of new brushes and mouthwash, nagging to go see the dentist no I don’t care that your childhood dentist looked like Ted Bundy, and probably a collateral raising of their bathing frequency through shared living routines, and it’d be fine, you guys. Totally fine.

Anyway.

This is what happens after a few months without drinking, y’all. These are the brain cells that’d usually get culled off by the friendly gin hammer.

#headcanon #fallout 4 #MacCready’s teeth #mmmmmm gin #storytelling #mustinvestigate rambles #man I really want to brush my teeth now

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carygarman980 · 6 years

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Business in the Front, Party in the Back: Garage Edition.

I’ve owned my house for over five years now, and I have never—not once—parked a car in my garage. Honestly I often forget that it’s even a potential option, even though it’s right behind the house and I see it everyday. Both online and in real life, people persistently tend to refer to my garage as a “shed” or a “shack,” which for a while confused me. It has a garage door that faces the street and everything! But then I realized…that I use it as a shed-shack…and think of it as a shed-shack…and more than likely talk about it like a shed-shack while I continue to not utilize the ENTIRE SEPARATE BUILDING that I have ON MY VERY PROPERTY built SPECIFICALLY for the ultra-fancy purpose of sheltering THE THIRD MOST EXPENSIVE THING I OWN, behind my house and my debt, and MAYHAPS I should really start thinking of it as a garage?

Which really conflicts with my evident aspiration to also have a personal lumberyard, so it’s a tough call. I don’t know. We don’t need to dwell on it. We’re just talking about what the shed-shack is like right at this moment in time. To do that, let’s look at where we’ve been. Behold:

This is when I bought the house. The great thing about having such dire before photos is that I can never really feel that bad about how things stand today because, well…look! Evidently, there had been some kind of half-baked effort to extend the garage to accommodate a boat, which—speaking as a person who can barely maneuver my small utility trailer into my own driveway (or any kind of space, really)—sounds patently absurd. Clearly the project was abandoned before it had really gotten off the ground, though, leaving this…weed and trash pit?

Additionally, take note of the little door in that first image, because it becomes relevant shortly. OMG HANG ON, we’ll get there.

SO. When ALL THAT ASPHALT got removed from the backyard (prompting the insane summer of dirt-hauling and praying for the sweet relief of death), so did that cinderblock foundation, which left this charming view! There’s something about an old sloppy siding patch that I’m actually kind of fond of, even though I have NO patience for new sloppy patch jobs. I finally made the connection that the missing window on the back of the garage never actually left the premises, but rather got recycled as the old laundry room window! Which has now also been replaced, but anyway. What an odd choice.

Inside the garage, things had gotten a JUST A LITTLE crowded. Demo over at Bluestone Cottage had left me with piles and piles of wood trim to store until it gets cleaned up and re-installed. My first fencing project had left behind an extra panel. Upstairs kitchen demo supplied a kitchen’s worth of base cabinets and formica countertops, poor decisions granted me a bunch of falling-apart shutters that I intercepted at the dump, a twenty-dollar price tag on a cute art deco dresser had saddled me with…an extra dresser. And so on. You get the idea.

I’m not really sure when or exactly why somebody drywalled the whole interior of the garage, and in retrospect it might have been kind of nice…but it wasn’t in good condition, appeared moldy in some spots, and somewhat interfered with the plan to install new electric in here to run power tools, new exterior lighting, etc.

SO! I gutted all the drywall, exposing the unpainted backside of the shiplap siding and the studs. Rustic? Sure. Rustic.

A couple months before, my friends Kim and Scott over at Yellow Brick Home had put some super impressive work into their own detached garage, including adding these simple and strong wood brackets for storing excess lumber. Their garage is what garage dreams are made of. “Great!” I said. “I’ll do that, too!”

So I did that too.

Except I have a lot more wood than Kim and Scott do. And also a much smaller garage. These are two facts you might think I would have considered beforehand, but evidently I’m incapable of thinking this many steps ahead.

Simple brackets. I can build simple brackets. Here I am, building simple brackets as day turns to dusk. Brackets out of scrap wood to hold more scrap wood.

Turns out there is a real compatibility problem between me and these brackets. You also might think I would have foreseen this, but once again. Too many steps ahead. Lower those expectations PLEASE.

See, each one takes up a lot of space. The space that is a particular issue is that diagonal brace, because once your wood pile gets to the base of that diagonal brace, subsequent pieces of wood inch forward, causing your pile to be weird and uneven, and things to fall, and general mishap. The solution here is obviously to not have so much goddamned wood that the piles ever get higher than the bottom of the diagonal brace, but that’s obviously too much to ask of me at this moment in my life. Someday I will have used up a lot of this wood (I SWEAR I HAVE PLANS FOR ALMOST ALL OF IT PROBABLY I THINK) and this might not be an issue anymore. Even still, though, it’s not an especially space-efficient design.

What I SHOULD HAVE DONE (and later did do on one wall) was suck it up and buy these storage racks, because they’re a) made for this very purpose b) well-designed and very sturdy c) pretty macho. Unfortunately once I started building my simple brackets I couldn’t stop building my simple brackets.

Because I simply must tell you EVERYTHING, demo revealed another now-covered window on the other side of the garage, directly opposite the other window!

Siding is patched over on the exterior, and this window faces the fence that divides my property line from the neighbor’s. Maybe someday I’ll restore it but for now it’s kinda not hurting anybody.

SO. Back to the wall opposite the garage door. At this point there is lumber everywhere so I take a break to use a very small amount of it.

Remember when I said to take note of the skinny door on the side of the garage? It’s only 28″ wide—which is fine for just walking in and out, but try carrying a table saw through it. Or a long piece of wood. Or the lawnmower.

YES there’s a big garage door on the opposite end of the garage, but it’s outside of the fence, doesn’t have an electric opener, and stays locked for security…so using it means making sure the dog is in the house, opening the garage door from the inside, out onto the sidewalk with whatever the probably heavy thing is, back into the backyard through the gate, back into the garage to close it, back to the house to let the dog out who has now eaten something I forgot I left on the table…this was a pain.

Long ago I dazzled you with this beautiful SketchUp rendering of my backyard, which is mostly different than anything I’ve done or plan to do anymore, but adding doors to the back of the garage didn’t change! The idea is that it allows more light into the garage, and provides an easy, convenient, and LARGE access to bring big things in and out. In theory you could put a table saw or a planer in the middle of the garage, open up both sides, and feed a long board through. In practice, thusfar there has always been too much stuff for this concept to become a reality, but I HAVE DREAMS, OK?

So, I invited my friends over for a relaxing afternoon of light framing work and demolition. And by friends I mean Edwin and Edgar, the ride-or-die power duo I rope into pretty much everything I do. We built a header with hoarded lumber and supported it with hoarded jack and king studs. Evil plan in action!

Then we cut a big hole! Light streamed in! Angels sang!

Into the opening, we inserted this set of pre-hung french doors. Pre-hung doors are so simple! So drama-free! A few shims, a few screws, and viola! Doors!

Edgar, who is magic with a circular saw, ripped off the ends of the siding around the door to accommodate a new casing.

The hardest part of assembling the new cashing is, luckily, not very hard! A few passes on the table saw and I had a good replica of the drip cap that sits over the other doors and windows on the garage and parts of the house. Some lumber yards have this piece available, too.

Some more scrap wood and a hefty dose of Bondo later…looking pretty good, doors!

Speaking of Bondo: Bondo is a bit tricky and, I find, unreliable for exterior wood repairs, at least in this climate. Some people swear by it, some people won’t touch the stuff—I fall somewhere in the middle. I’ve had repairs fail after just one year on bare wood, although repairs where I’ve used at least 1-2 coats of primer on bare wood before applying Bondo have been fine—for now, at least. A much better product—although more expensive and time-consuming (it takes about a week to cure)— is Abatron WoodEpox. For what it’s worth, although not recommended, I’ve never seen a Bondo repair on interior painted woodwork fail—just outside. It can’t seem to take the expansion and contraction that occurs with exterior woodwork in the upstate NY climate.

SO. Way back when I said I was going to do this, and then a bit later did it, and then neglected to blog about it, there was comment drama about the doors. They are pine. They are made for interior, not exterior use. They are single pane and not particularly weatherproof. I chose them in large part because they were affordable at $377, and I figured worst case scenario, someday I’ll have to replace them into a now-existing standard-sized opening, which isn’t really such a big deal. I stand by it! They’ve been through 3 whole winters at this point and haven’t shifted or shown separation at joints, etc., and I think they should last many more years without issue.

SO. Current Status: TOO MUCH WOOD. In fairness there are many not-wood items like a few large tools, 2 spare cast iron sinks (as one does), various gardening and landscaping accoutrement, roofing shingles for a rainy day (get it?), window sash (pl.), extra corbels, uh…I don’t know, stuff. It’s an overcrowded disaster which I swear is not nearly as disorganized as it might appear. I have a LOT of interior finishing work coming up (THANK GOD. I AM SO TIRED OF FRAMING AND PLUMBING AND ELECTRIC AND INSULATION AND SIDING I COULD SCREAM. I AM SCREAMING.), so I’m kind of perversely excited to see how thinned out I can get this in the coming months. Also, intensely motivated to get this garage back under control because this is driving me nuts. At a certain point the strategy backfires because there’s too much to even see what you have, and fishing it out becomes a big hassle.

Additionally. You may note. That the last two are recent pictures. And I mentioned these doors were installed 3 years ago. There is a simple explanation for this. I never actually finished painting the doors. Because I just did not. The options were to finish painting the doors or do something other than finish painting the doors, and I have consistently chosen the latter option for multiple years now.

Also, they really need hardware. The lack of hardware is an issue.

TA-DA!!!

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billydmacklin · 6 years

Text

Business in the Front, Party in the Back: Garage Edition.

Additionally, take note of the little door in that first image, because it becomes relevant shortly. OMG HANG ON, we’ll get there.

SO! I gutted all the drywall, exposing the unpainted backside of the shiplap siding and the studs. Rustic? Sure. Rustic.

So I did that too.

Simple brackets. I can build simple brackets. Here I am, building simple brackets as day turns to dusk. Brackets out of scrap wood to hold more scrap wood.

Turns out there is a real compatibility problem between me and these brackets. You also might think I would have foreseen this, but once again. Too many steps ahead. Lower those expectations PLEASE.

Because I simply must tell you EVERYTHING, demo revealed another now-covered window on the other side of the garage, directly opposite the other window!

SO. Back to the wall opposite the garage door. At this point there is lumber everywhere so I take a break to use a very small amount of it.

Then we cut a big hole! Light streamed in! Angels sang!

Into the opening, we inserted this set of pre-hung french doors. Pre-hung doors are so simple! So drama-free! A few shims, a few screws, and viola! Doors!

Edgar, who is magic with a circular saw, ripped off the ends of the siding around the door to accommodate a new casing.

Some more scrap wood and a hefty dose of Bondo later…looking pretty good, doors!

Also, they really need hardware. The lack of hardware is an issue.

TA-DA!!!

Business in the Front, Party in the Back: Garage Edition. published first on https://carpetgurus.tumblr.com/

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murasaki-murasame · 7 years

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This got really long so I’m putting it under a read-more. This is just me rambling even more about some real-life stuff, specifically gaming-related stuff.

Part of the reason why I was going through stuff I have in storage yesterday, and going down my little nostalgia trip, was because on top of bringing in some books I had there, I also wanted to bring in some gaming equipment, since I’m planning to trade in the vast majority of gaming stuff I have, partly just to get rid of it since we don’t use most of it, and partly so I can hopefully get enough trade-in credit to get a PS Vita [+ maybe a memory card if I want one] and the new Danganronpa game.

I was going to just give in and watch an LP for it like I’ve done for the whole series up to this point, but I didn’t really want to since I want to avoid spoilers at all costs, and because I didn’t want to deal with being dependent on someone’s upload schedule and whatnot, and the whole recent streaming restriction thing was just the final push I needed to go ‘fuck it, let’s just buy a Vita to play it myself’. I wanted to get it on Steam, but there doesn’t seem to be a Mac port, just a Windows one, unlike the first two games, so that sucks. Maybe there’s a Mac port scheduled for later but I don’t want to look into it for fear of accidental spoilers.

And either way, I’ve been wanting a Vita for a while because, even though I’ve seen an LP of it, I really want to actually play Persona 4 Golden for myself. I’ve played Persona 3 Portable like five times already so I know I’ll enjoy playing it. I also kinda want to get the dancing game eventually, and maybe the two upcoming ones. I’ve wanted to get into dancing games in general for a while, and this seems like a good gateway into that. There’s probably other games out there on the Vita I’d be interested in. Mostly visual novels like Steins; Gate or whatnot.

I’m not completely confident on how EB Games’ trade-in system works, but considering that, all in all, I’m going to trade in a Wii console, a Wii U console, a 3DS console, four 3DS games, five DS games, two Wii U games, five Wii games, six PS3 games, and eleven Xbox 360 games, I’d be INCREDIBLY surprised if that’s not enough to get least get a Vita, if not also the game I want plus maybe a memory card. I don’t think I’ll bother with digital games much so I might not bother with one, but it might be good to get one just to be safe.

If I can avoid trading in my 3DS and one or two games for it, I might, but I’ve already done a factory reset on it so I’m committed to giving it away at this point.

I just spent like an hour or two getting everything organized and making sure that the consoles are all in good condition and that all the games are intact and whatnot, so now I’m pretty confident I’ll be going through with this.

To be honest, if I could, I would probably trade in my Xbox 360 and maybe my PSP and it’s few games, but apparently they’re both too old to be traded in so I guess I’m keeping them. Which is fine, since I want to keep P3P. Though apparently I can buy it on the Vita’s PSN store digitally so getting rid of it wouldn’t be a big deal. Honestly that’s like the one reason I might bother getting a memory card, lol. It’d be REALLY convenient to have P3P and P4G on one Vita.

Most of all I’m just excited to [hopefully] be getting the new DR game. It’d be great to be able to play it for myself before I get spoiled on the whole thing. If I can just go on a bit of a complete media blackout for it, that might be nice. I’m VERY tempted to download xkit just so I can blacklist every tag related to it until I’ve finished it, one way or another.

Thankfully I’m pretty sure at least one person on youtube will play the entire game either way, so if all else fails I can just fall back on that as an option. I’d be fine with watching an LP if I have to, I just don’t want to get genuinely spoiled without even experiencing the game on it’s own terms.

We’ll see exactly how much store credit I get, but I can spend my own money on getting the game if I absolutely need to. But it’d be nice if it can be covered by store credit. And if it does get covered, I could hypothetically spend some of my own money on P4G. Apparently it’s really cheap on Amazon, so that’d be easy to get.

I feel like it might be too early for me to even be talking about this, since I’m not sure how it’ll pan out. Eh. I imagine it’ll go relatively according to plan. If it does, I should get everything sorted out by the end of the week. The only annoying part would be waiting for them to actually get the game I want, since I don’t think it’s out in my region until a week or two from now. It may also take a while if they need to order in a Vita from elsewhere. We’ll see.

#murasaki's personal tag #this will all be a bit pointless to talk about if I somehow can't trade my stuff in and get what I want #but I imagine it'll all work out the way I want #I'll probably make another post in a few days or so once I have a specific idea how things will play out

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goodbyedinah · 7 years

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AOSON R102 10-Inch Android Tablet

(Android 6.0 Marshmallow, MTK8163A-B Quad Core, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal Storage, 10.1″ 1280x800 IPS Touch Screen, Dual Camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, with micro SD card slot)

SCREEN: Sharp, nice contrast, great color. Came with a screenguard pre-applied. Viewing angle is fine for two people watching a movie together. Touch responds smoothly.

BRIGHTNESS: This can go really bright. I actually use it most often on the dimmest setting (kinda wish it went a bit dimmer actually - but there's likely an app for that).

SOUND: Okay. It's really what you'd expect for a tablet. You can hear alright on wifi calls, but using a bluetooth headset better. For movies, you'll likely want to use headphones or a speaker.

BATTERY LIFE: Better than expected. The listing says "Average Battery Life: 5 hours" (and the seller told me 4 to 6 hours), but I am getting significantly LONGER than this. I think I'm averaging over 7 hours (which the battery monitoring app I installed agrees with, putting my average at 7 hours and 41 minutes). You can play games and watch entire movies, no problem. This would make a great tablet for entertainment on trips. I originally thought it was draining a lot while idle, but that turned out to be entirely my weather app widget. When I removed it, the drain was only 1% for 20 hours idle (with wifi and bluetooth on, not in airplane mode).

Here are some battery usage stats, all with wifi and bluetooth on:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, VLC player, brightness at half, headphones = used 30%

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Prime Video, lowest brightness, headphones = used 17%

playing misc games for 1 hour = used 14%

30 minutes browsing play store and installing apps = used 4%

1 hour reading, Alreader on autoscroll = used 9%

STORAGE: Of the 16gb internal, 11.04gb is available. There is a card slot (under a pop-off panel on the back) which can take a 32gb micro SD card. Also, if you have a micro usb to regular usb adapter, you can plug flashdrives into the tablet. I have played movies from a flashdrive with no lagging or issues.

FILE TRANSFER: Just plug the tablet's usb cable into your computer, it will show up as aosonR102, and you'll see internal storage and your micro SD card. You can open these and drag and drop files. Super simple, same as transferring to/from a portable hard drive.

WIFI: Good. Setup was literally just selecting my wifi and putting in my password, and now it hops on automatically. It is very fast to connect. I can have the tablet on the complete opposite side of the house from my wifi router and it's still in range, going through a couple walls. The speed is able to stream movies. I've had no issues so far.

WIFI CALLS: Yep, just install something like Hangouts. You can call and text both ways using phone numbers. The tablet will ring just like a phone when somebody calls you.

BLUETOOTH: Good. Pairing devices is simple, and I can be in a different room down the hall with the door shut and my headset will still work perfectly. You can use things such as a keyboard and mouse with this. It's paired easily with everything I've tried so far.

CAMERAS: This is not the tablet for people who want to take serious photos with it. I know my sister takes all her baby photos with phones/tablets, and if you're wanting to do that, this is NOT the tablet for you. Photo quality is extremely poor (like ridiculously so). I don't mind this much myself because THIS IS A 10-INCH TABLET, and holding it up and using it as a camera is just plain awkward. You can use the camera for video chats, but it's certainly not ideal if that's your main reason for having the tablet. You'll be grainy and probably going off the edge of the screen unless you set the tablet on a stand and back up a fair amount due to the camera being in the corner.

HEAT: I'm mostly okay holding this in my hands or on my lap for hours. It can occasionally get somewhat uncomfortably warm in the upper, left corner, though. Just be sure to let that area of the back breathe. Don't prop it in a way that covers the entire back.

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO: Works fine with this. I installed the app with no issues and was playing a movie within minutes.

MOUSE: Yes, when you use a mouse with this, you do indeed get a functional pointer.

FIREWALL: Doesn't come with one installed, but I found a free one in the app store which works fine. Apps now only get access to the internet when I allow it.

CASES: Unfortunately, case selection seems to be limited to universal styles.

GOOD FOR:

watching videos (plenty of battery life for two or three full-length movies, although sound will likely need headphones or a bluetooth/wired speaker to be loud enough in quiet scenes)

looking at photos (nice, clear images - great for portfolios)

play store games (has worked fine with all the game apps I've tried so far, any lagging seems to be only in menus and not in actual game play - but I'm not a serious gamer, so I'll just remind you this tablet only has 1gb of ram and you should keep your expectations realistic)

wifi calls using Hangouts (I can have the tablet on the complete opposite side of the house from my wifi router, and then walk all over the house with a bluetooth headset without problems)

adult coloring books (the large screen makes this a lot more fun than on smaller tablets or phones)

reading

surfing internet (comes with Chrome browser installed)

calendar

BAD FOR:

taking photos (both cameras are unfortunately very poor)

video calls (you can do it, but again the camera is very poor and also positioned at the corner)

How to take a SCREENSHOT: Press Power and Volume Down together for about 2 seconds.

How to MAKE THE ONSCREEN KEYBOARD STOP VIBRATING AND MAKING A CLICKING NOISE WHENEVER YOU TYPE A LETTER: Settings/Personal/Language & input/keyboard & input methods/Android Keyboard (AOSP)/Preferences/uncheck Vibrate on keypress and Sound on keypress.

How to AUTO-ROTATE THE SCREEN ORIENTATION: Settings/System/Accessibility/check Auto-rotate screen. You can also find this in Settings/Display, and also by swiping down twice from the top of the screen to pull up that quick menu.

How to QUICKLY PUT THE PHONE ON SILENT OR AIRLINE MODE: Swipe down twice from the top of the screen. AUDIO PROFILES and AIRPLANE MODE are both here.

How to SCHEDULE SILENT HOURS: As far as I could find, there is no pre-installed app for this. I was able to easily find and download one, though. Then I used the app to set times for switching to silent mode (but keeping alarms enabled).

How to CHANGE THE WALLPAPER: Press and hold any blank spot on the Home page or other page. The Wallpapers and Widgets icons will appear.

How to add WIDGETS: Press and hold any blank spot on the Home page or other page. The Wallpapers and Widgets icons will appear.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This is a good, low-cost tablet. I definitely like it. The quality (in regard to both feel and look) is satisfactory, plain but not cheap.

Since that was a long read, I’m going to put the Amazon product link and complete tablet specs again here at the bottom.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ON AMAZON!!

Specification Operating System and CPU: Android 6.0 MTK8163A-B Quad core 64bit 1.3GHZ (GPU Mali T720) Memory: 1GB RAM 16GB ROM, Storage can be expanded to 32GB by Micro SD memory card Display Size:10.1" 800*1280 IPS Dual Camera: Front 0.3 MEGA, Rear 5.0 MEGA Battery: Li-Ion 5000mAh/3.7V Network: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n 2.4Ghz, Bluetooth 4.0 GPS: Yes Dimension: 10.28*6.34*0.39 in. /261*161*9.9mm Net Weight: about 1.11 lb/500g. Input / Output Connectors:1 x Micro USB Interface，1 x Earphone Jack，1 x Micro SD card slot Support Multi Media Format: Video Format-AVI,MKV,MWV,MOV,MP4,MPEG,MPG,FLV WAVetc. Image Format-MJPEG,JPEG,JPG,GIF,BMP,PNG. Music-MP3,WMA,MP2,OGG,AAC, M4A,MA4,FLAC,APE,3GP,WAV Package Contents 1 x R102 Tablet 1 x Charger 1 x USB Cable 1 x English Manual

#Amazon #review #product review #aoson tablet #technology #10 inch tablet

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