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manvimetawares · 11 months
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jcmarchi · 4 months
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AI and sustainability: 5 top challenges you need to know
New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/ai-and-sustainability-5-top-challenges-you-need-to-know/
AI and sustainability: 5 top challenges you need to know
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According to a report by PwC, artificial intelligence (AI) can contribute up to US$15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
In the path to using the power of artificial intelligence, it can be easy to overlook the intricate challenges it can pose to sustainability. While AI is at the forefront of innovation, its impact stretches beyond technological feats, as it intertwines with environmental, ethical, and social dimensions.
In this article, we’ll go over the top 5 challenges of AI and sustainability, which are:
Creation of e-waste
High carbon footprint of AI models
High resource utilization
The problem of bias
Lack of transparency
1. Creation of e-waste
According to the Global E-waste Monito 2020, the world will see an astonishing 74 million metric tons of e-waste by 2030. This is due to the extremely fast technological breakthroughs, the rising demand for consumer electronics, and the increasingly shorter device lifespans.
With artificial intelligence technologies being developed and integrated into daily life at a quick pace, it’s expected that the world’s e-waste problem will worsen, as there’s a higher demand for CPUs, GPUs, and memory chips.
E-waste is also leading to dangerous public health issues, with industry leaders predicting around 70% of toxic waste in landfills globally is e-waste. As it’s made of harmful substances and chemicals, it contaminates the environment around landfills.
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The world urgently needs a strategy to make sure the emerging e-waste crisis is addressed. Recycling electronic waste, however, is not only intricate but also labor-intensive. Taking apart electronic devices isn’t usually a simple thing to do. Manufacturers often design devices to be difficult to dismantle, aiming to prevent users from tampering with them.
Experts believe that the solution to this e-waste recycling problem could be artificial intelligence and machine learning. As these technologies allow algorithms to learn quickly and efficiently, they can achieve over 90% accuracy in identifying electronic components.
Google identified the “4Ms”; four best practices that, the company claims, can reduce both carbon emissions and energy by 1000x and 100x, respectively. This is available to everyone who uses the Google Cloud services. The practices are:
Map optimization. Customers can choose the location with the cleanest energy to reduce the gross carbon footprint by 5x to 10x. 
Model. By choosing efficient machine learning models, quality can be improved while reducing computation by 3x-10x.
Mechanization. Cloud computing reduces the amount of energy used when compared to on-premises, which leads to reduced emissions by 1.4x-2x. 
Machine. When using systems and processors that are machine learning optimized, energy efficiency and performance improve by 2x-5x.
3. High resource utilization
Data centers are known for using large amounts of water to cool their systems so the servers don’t overheat. In a recent study, researchers estimated that every ChatGPT conversation that includes 20-50 questions leads to a 500-milliliter bottle of water being “drunk” at a data center.
Google, for example, started publishing its water usage information. In 2022 alone, the company reported its data centers worldwide used 5.2 billion gallons of water. In 2023, Google planned to build a data center in Uruguay, which would consume millions of liters of water per day – something that angered the country, as they were suffering the worst drought in 74 years.
Similarly, the increase in building more data centers, energy infrastructure, and hardware has also meant an increase in the need for carbon-intensive raw materials like aluminum, silicon, plastic, copper, and more.
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The global demand for lithium is also expected to rise to 1.1 million metric tons by 2040, which represents over 10x what’s currently being produced. All of these metals and materials need to be mined, which creates both a social and an environmental burden that’s being exported to the Global South.
Antonio del Giudice, architect and researcher, has worked with indigenous communities in Chile who’ve seen their lands used for mining lithium and copper. He says that Europe wrote off entire regions as “sacrificed zones” for mining. 
4. The problem of bias
A University of Cambridge study published in npj Climate Action highlights the limitations of artificial intelligence in climate science due to biased data collection. The technology’s reliance on incomplete data, missing key perspectives, and information from various regions and communities, particularly the Global South, results in unreliable climate predictions. 
The paper suggests a “human-in-the-loop” approach to fill these data gaps, making sure more accurate and inclusive AI-generated climate solutions. The study highlights the need for globally diverse data sets and the importance of broadband access as a public necessity to create socially responsible artificial intelligence tools.
“No data is clean or without prejudice, and this is particularly problematic for AI which relies entirely on digital information,” said Professor Emily Shuckburgh, co-author, Cambridge Zero Director, and climate scientist.
5. Lack of transparency 
The “black box” issue in artificial intelligence refers to the lack of clarity in how machine learning models, especially deep learning networks, process data. This makes it hard to understand the decision-making process of AI, leading to concerns about accountability and bias, particularly in areas like healthcare and law. 
It also restricts scalability and adoption, as users can’t easily correct errors or adapt AI systems to new scenarios without understanding their inner workings. This challenge is acknowledged by many organizations, with few having comprehensive data and ethics policies.
The lack of transparency is problematic due to a variety of reasons, such as:
Scalability. The lack of clarity in AI’s decision-making process makes it challenging to identify errors or anticipate how the artificial intelligence will perform with new data. This uncertainty complicates efforts to improve or adapt AI systems for various applications, which limits their potential benefits.
Adoption. The difficulty in understanding and explaining AI solutions is a major obstacle for organizations considering or currently implementing artificial intelligence. This lack of clarity raises concerns about decision-making risks, which stops business leaders from adopting the technologies. 
Ethical and social implications. When human operators can’t grasp the logic behind AI’s decisions, accountability becomes problematic, particularly in critical areas like law and healthcare. The opacity of AI systems may conceal biases and make error detection difficult.
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askthebests · 7 months
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The Top 4 Best RO for Home
The use of RO is environmentally, practically, healthy, and also budget-friendly. Hence, investing in one of the Best RO Water Purifiers for Home 2023 goes a long way in making sure that the health of your loved ones is well preserved. Hence, having a water purifier installed at your home and office makes sure of the continuous supply of fresh and clean water. This helps reduce the risk of acquiring water-borne diseases and also adds to the taste and odour of the water. 
Here are the best RO water purifiers
1. Pure Aqua 12-Liter RO+UV Water Filter Purifier
This product from Pure Aqua comprises advanced RO+UV filtration technology and is designed to offer clean and safe drinking water for your home. It comprises a generous 12-liter capacity, to make sure that the user has a constant supply of purified water. The fully automatic UF+TDS controller also makes the operation effortless.
2. AQUA AUDI 14 Ltr RO + UV + UF + ALKALINE + COPPER + TDS CONTROLLER Water Purifier
The AQUA AUDI water purifier comprises one of the best purification technologies. It combines RO, UV, UF, alkaline, copper, and TDS controllers to make sure that the water is not only purified but also enriched with essential minerals. The package comprises a pre-filter bottle with a filter inside, a bottle key, 5 meters of pipe, tape fitting, and wall-mounted accessories for ease.
3. HUL Pureit Eco Water Saver Mineral RO+UV+MF Water Purifier
HUL Pureit Eco Water Saver is a wall-mounted or countertop water purifier that has been designed to save water and offers the best in purification. It comprises mineral RO+UV+MF technology, to make sure that every drop of water you use is safe and healthy. 
4. AO Smith Z9 Hot+ Normal RO Water Purifier
This AO Smith water purifier offers both cold and hot water, hence making it a versatile addition to your kitchen. Along with a 10-liter storage capacity, 8-stage purification, and the Silver Charged Membrane Technology (SCMT), it makes sure that the water is free from contaminants and safe for your domestic consumption.
CONCLUSION
So, there you have it friends these are the top recommendations for the best RO water purifiers to consider. 
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phantomdecibel · 9 months
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1/3
Test: check the presence of Copper ion
Salt to be used: hydrated copper sulphate
I swear to the duck it's the prettiest salt ever I just wanna put it in my mouth (didn't) look at the picture please I beg you it's the most gorgeous freaking salt in the whole world-
*ahem*
Anyways
We took the salt in a test tube, added water and dil. HCl. So far, so good.
Then we were supposed to add something called H2S stock solution.
Cool. The supervisor said everything we needed was already out, right? We looked at the 5 (?) bottles in front of us.
No H2S stock solution.
Okay, maybe she forgot to take it out. Let's check in the usual place, where all the liquids are kept.
Nu uh.
O-o-okay... maybe it's with the other salts? Unlikely, because everything else is solid. We needed a liquid. It has to be with the liquid... right...?
Wrong.
It wasn't with the liquids.
Uh... okay, let's check with the salts... just in case...
Nope.
Wtf, where is this damn thing??
Not with the salts, apparently.
Okay... so where do we look now? (We had looked literally everywhere a normal brain could think of at this point)
Do we really need this? Can't we just move on to the next text without H2S stock
No. We need the precipitate for the rest of the copper tests.
Uh... so where is it??
A genius friend of mine decided to look through the supervisor's private stock
Dude. That's literally intrusion.
We need H2S don't we?
I mean yeah, but-
Forget it. It isn't there.
Now what?
...
Dunno.
...let's just abandon this and move on to the next salt
But pretty salt :(
Do we have a choice?
...no
Exactly
Good job not eating the salt lmfao–
I will look this pretty salt up o7
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indianartvilla12 · 2 years
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Shop beautiful copper drinkware set online- Indian Art Villa
Seeking for a unique and stylish way to serve drinks to your guests? Check out the beautiful antique copper drinkware set from Indian Art Villa. This set includes a copper jug with a capacity of 1 liter and four matching glasses. The jug has a striking embossed design and the glasses are adorned with traditional Indian art.
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lacbainkyllesblog · 2 years
Text
TECHNOPRENEURSHIP BLOG
It's a quiet long since the last time I created a blog and now let's get started to our new product which is the “Smartubs” a short term for Smart Tumblers. The first blog I created is related to coffee but now let's go on to technoprenouship industry. How do we come up with this idea, from coffee to smartubs? The idea of having something that can be turn into cold or hot is the main reason we come up in such innovative products.
Tumblers are typically insulated cups or mugs that are designed to keep drinks safe while on the go.
For any occasion.
Smartubs are compact, convenient, and built to keep your drinks insulated for hours. They feature a streamlined design for comfort on the go, a lid to help prevent spills, and insulated materials that seal the temperature. Can keep your warm drinks warm and cold drinks cold for hours. Whether it’s your morning coffee on the way to work, some spiced chai around the campfire, or iced tea to keep you refreshed on a hike, tumblers are a versatile option.
Business Proposal
Our target market this time are the upper middle class people specifically the campers, military, traveler, professionals, office workers which all have the common situation the inaccessible of cold and hot water during camping, hiking, traveling, military operations and even office working.
We also like to reduce Plastic Pollution because for every six bottles people buy, only one is recycled that leads to a big problem given the fact that water bottles do not biodegrade.
The Innovative Product
Smart Tumblers
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Smartubs was made of HDPE plastic in it’s outer frame
- BPA Free Lid
-Leak Proof Designs
- Premium Copper Coated
-Vacumm insulation
- Food Grade Stainless Steel
- Durable Stylish powder coating
-Anti sweat and Burn Free design
Main Features
The main feature of SmarTumb is to serve cold and hot coffee or any other liquid matters. Moreover, it is stainless is not just durable however it is the safest when it comes to storing food or beverages. These feature of the product will keep the costumers buy it for more. This innovation serves as strength to the business to go along with the competition in the market.
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Designing our innovative product literally cause us a lot of time for but it’s actually fun things to do. We did a lot of research study about it and designed appropriately.
Our team wants to provide a sustainable and cost-effective product that will effectively meet the preferred taste of the target customers. Additionally, we aims to provide customers with high quality and users – friendly product to attain good sales that would allow business to obtain better return of investment.
Annual Market Survey for the Smartubs.
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We the Ab History 1 students did an Annual market research survey questions to our target via face to face interview and online. Our team would like to know about the target customers perspective about the Smartubs in order for us to provide an outstanding quality and service for our customer. We believe that giving the customers the opportunity to be involved and influential is going to support our development in the future. For us doing survey might be the best thing to do because they want to make their voice heard. “I like sharing my opinions,” one of the target market told us. They feel that by sharing their perspective, they can make a difference.
Business Hypothesis
The innovative product can run successfully if going to creat a Business Model and asking Annual Market Survey will help our product development.
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Team Decision
Our team really having a hard time figuring what products we should innovative at first. We decided to do a survey in order for us to determine the point of pain of our target market.
Lesson learned
Making a decision without proper information makes the group complicated. And at first the thought of Entrepreneurial Mind is somewhat we thought similar to entrepreneurship in senior high school but later on we've come to realize that it's far different but what we thought off. Since entrepreneurship is more focus on business and how it well grow while Entrepreneurial Mind is only the thoughts of what we're thinking that would interest the customer. However, after those failures , we finally got the right prescriptive and the team still cope up with what have happened. We still managed to conduct our actual and online survey , which we can now point what are the point of pains that were addressing . Furthermore, through our hard works and sweats were successfully done with our conducting of data's and informations. And through this activity I learned that in order to have a business you must first address what are or is the problem in a certain place or location so you could have an idea on how to solve the problem. And to know what you should do to help them and also how could you benefits from it . Technopreneurship from the word "techno" is technology and "preneurship" is from entrepreneurship, simply put together that means entrepreneurship in a field of technology. This is a kind of field which the entrepreneurs uses technology to make their business known in the public. And it is able to acquire and reach more customers and choose from the best suppliers, to build better relationships with their target market. Technopreneur begins their business with nothing but with a brainstorming idea. It identifies present practices and assesses some new ideas to do something different. A person who is engaged in technopreneurship creates a product or solution that uses technological solutions to change the way of doing something in an orthodox way. It improves how we have done something before and how it has to be done in the coming future. Also, technopreneurship involves the creation of a product or solution that employs technology solutions to transform the way people do things in a traditional method.
Overall, tecnopreneurship is not a product but a procedure of synthesis to improve and create innovates the future of a person, a nation, and the globe as a whole. In this digital world, professional development programs, as well as training, have required to succeed in a knowledge-based society. They produce various strategic thinkers who have the relevant skills and talent to grab success in a changing global atmosphere at a fast pace.
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jonasdono123 · 2 years
Text
Blog#2
It's been a while since I make a blog. My content in this blog is all about our new innovative products which the "Smartubs" a short term for Smart Tumblers. Last time I blog something related to coffee but let's now move on to technoprenouship industry. How do we come up with this idea, from coffee to smartubs? The idea of having something that can be turn into cold or hot is the main reason we come up in such innovative products.
Tumblers are typically insulated cups or mugs that are designed to keep drinks safe while on the go.
For any occasion.
Smartubs are compact, convenient, and built to keep your drinks insulated for hours. They feature a streamlined design for comfort on the go, a lid to help prevent spills, and insulated materials that seal the temperature. Can keep your warm drinks warm and cold drinks cold for hours. Whether it’s your morning coffee on the way to work, some spiced chai around the campfire, or iced tea to keep you refreshed on a hike, tumblers are a versatile option.
Business Proposal
Our target market this time are the upper middle class people specifically the campers, military, traveler, professionals, office workers which all have the common situation the inaccessible of cold and hot water during camping, hiking, traveling, military operations and even office working.
We also like to reduce Plastic Pollution because for every six bottles people buy, only one is recycled that leads to a big problem given the fact that water bottles do not biodegrade.
The Innovative Product
Smart Tumblers
Tumblr media
Smartubs was made of HDPE plastic in it's outer frame
- BPA Free Lid
-Leak Proof Designs
- Premium Copper Coated
-Vacumm insulation
- Food Grade Stainless Steel
- Durable Stylish powder coating
-Anti sweat and Burn Free design
Main Features
The main feature of SmarTumb is to serve cold and hot coffee or any other liquid matters. Moreover, it is stainless is not just durable however it is the safest when it comes to storing food or beverages. These feature of the product will keep the costumers buy it for more. This innovation serves as strength to the business to go along with the competition in the market.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Designing our innovative product literally cause us a lot of time for but it's actually fun things to do. We did a lot of research study about it and designed appropriately.
Our team wants to provide a sustainable and cost-effective product that will effectively meet the preferred taste of the target customers. Additionally, we aims to provide customers with high quality and users – friendly product to attain good sales that would allow business to obtain better return of investment.
Annual Market Survey for the Smartubs.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
We the Ab History 1 students did an Annual market research survey questions to our target via face to face interview and online. Our team would like to know about the target customers perspective about the Smartubs in order for us to provide an outstanding quality and service for our customer. We believe that giving the customers the opportunity to be involved and influential is going to support our development in the future. For us doing survey might be the best thing to do because they want to make their voice heard. “I like sharing my opinions,” one of the target market told us. They feel that by sharing their perspective, they can make a difference.
Business Hypothesis
The innovative product can run successfully if going to creat a Business Model and asking Annual Market Survey will help our product development.
Tumblr media
Team Decision
Our team really having a hard time figuring what products we should innovative at first. We decided to do a survey in order for us to determine the point of pain of our target market.
Lesson Learned
Creating group works and planning our business venture was quite challenging at first since the team members was far from each other with lacking of instant communication and interactions. However, the team still managed to conduct an online survey as well as actual survey and interview and find out what point of pain that we intend to address. Moreover, through appreciating the one’s weaknesses and strengths, have a clear organizational purpose, cooperation and sharing of ideas made our conducting of data successfully done. I also learned that my way of thinking was still left in highschool which still all about "entrepreneurship" and I know to myself that I have to step up. Because of this I learned I lot about technopreneurship.
How an opportunity can be converted into reality by a Technopreneur.
A technopreneur starts out with nothing but an "idea'. He defies existing practices and systems and thinks of doing things differently. He creates a product or solution that uses the heft and capability of technology to change the way something was traditionally done. He succeeded admirably. For e.g. The founder Uber thought (IDEA) of a different way to call a cab, used the power of technology (built a GPS integrated app) and completely changed the economics of the taxi/cab industry. Technopreneurship is a new breed of entrepreneurship. It involves a coming together of people who are intelligent, driven, creative, tech-savvy and passionate and have an appetite for calculated risk. Unlike entrepreneurship this is seldom a one-man show – the success of Technopreneurship hinges on how well the team functions together.There is a common belief in the potential of the tech product, an inherent DNA to work hard and against all odds, a coming together of people with myriad skillsets and resources that are critical for the success of the venture. For a Technopreneur, it is not as much about the money as it is about the affirmation that the "idea' is a worthy one and that it works. The idea needs to work for the greater common good – it doesn't need to be a global blockbuster. For this reason, Technopreneurship is an expensive exercise and Technopreneurs need to work without pay until their ideas become commercially viable. It is not often easy and they have to persevere, lead and motivate their team, search for people with the money, pitch their idea and get them to join forces. It is here that their past work experience and network becomes extremely useful.
More often than not, Technopreneurship begins with the customer experience and works backward to arrive at the technology to provide that customer experience. 
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ecozonelifestyle · 2 years
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Ecozone Lifestyle Appreciates Sustainable Pride Celebrations-2022
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From the Pride marches as well as the non-binary club nights to little known historical archives, Ecozone Lifestyle Appreciates Sustainable Pride Celebrations-2022 as there is something new for everyone in U.K. Mainland and England.
The month of June every year brings many things in hands, as the nights become more lighter and the weather all around the U.K. gets more warmer- Almost A Death Notice! Holidays were booked but that is the most beautiful and important month of pride.
Pride is an yearly dedication for the community of LGBTQ and it is all just a wonderful thing that it is being celebrated. It has an beautiful history behind 50 years back almost. In the year 1969, in the month of June there was a riot- The Stonewall Riots– This was an transformative event in the period of history. This was the riot in which the gay community in the US fought against their oppressors and in that they campaigned for the rights which were for getting equal. This was the journey which got remarkable and hence, it transformed the future!
In today’s times, the month of June is used as one of the landmark in order to find the joy in terms of how far the society has come now. While Ecozone Lifestyle Appreciates Sustainable Pride Celebrations-2022 this year as being the seller of the Ecozone Lifestyle Products for Eco-friendly Products In England who has Copper Ware In England like Copper Bottle In England, Matt Copper Bottle In England, Copper Bracelet In England, Copper Ware Bracelet In England, Copper Carafe In England, Copper Glass In England, Copper Jugs In England, Copper Mug In England and so many more products where Ecozone Lifestyle Products Reviews are so immense that found this year’s celebrations so sustainable and Eco-Friendly.
As, a start it is something good, but still there are some needs of educating to some work to be done. It is all about the acceptance, awareness and being uniquely the individual only. As, it has been founded that, throughout this month there are many places who all hold events such as the marches, parties as well as few of the concerts. This is all a good gesture in order to bring all of the community together and appreciating love.
This is usually the time and can say the best time for just doing the rally all together with the friends, grab on the dancing shoes and forsure, must have the best outfit on to the grove beats.  
But, this was an alarming time too. As, the mass attends the events and they all generate a huge and literally HUGE amount of waste. It is nearly more than 10,000 bin bags which are full.
This Is A Serious Concern- An Alarm To Eliminate Plastic!
In order to avoid the negative consequences of this wonderful celebrations, here are mentioned some simple and easy ways to protect the Mother Earth and Eliminate The Plastic- Although , this year 2022 is founded to be more Eco-Conscious and Ecozone Lifestyle Appreciates Sustainable Pride Celebrations-2022 which is a very good and positive sign but, implanting more can bring wonders in the future and can make pride experience more Eco-Friendly!
1-) BUY FROM ECOZONE LIFESTYLE- SUSTAINABLE STORE:
In order to experience the event in an Eco-Friendly manner Eco Friendly Copper Bottle In England are the Best Copper Bottle In England and are one of the Pure Copper Bottle In England, not only this to get the Best Copper Ware In England as well as the Premium Copper Ware In England like Pure Copper Glass In England, Pure Copper Carafe In England along with the Best Jugs In England which are the Pure Copper Jugs In England, Pure Copper Mug In England is the best way for a good start to buy straight from the sustainable community itself.
In order to gift the loved one a special gift, Copper Gift Sets In England from Ecozone Lifestyle can be bought straight.
Also, can search for some fun authentic pieces for personal use like Copper Tongue Cleaner In England, Bamboo Cotton Buds In England, Umbrella In England.
Again not a stop here, for Best Handicraft In England like Best Decorative Stool In England, Wooden Stool In England which are the Best Wooden Stool In England, Tea Light Holders In England, Handmade Tea Light In England, Napkin Holders In England which are the best Wooden Napkin Holders In England.
These all are the Environment Free Products In England that give back to the community and as well as to the planet.
2-) REUSE- TO KEEP IT FOR LATER:
If anyone have been to any of the event before then digging in the old goods, flatten out the creases in the flag and carry it with the pride. It is good to bring them back home with self so they are as good and new as for the next year also. In case of buying anything new as it is the pride after all it is good to keep it and reuse it for the next time with much respect and care.
3-) GET THE CREATIVITY ON:   
It is the right time to put on the creativity and to test the skills and customise the items which are already in hand, adding stitches of the colour or turning a pair of jeans into the shorts. It is good to grab a cardboard from the rubbish thrown and create an own banner like with decorating with the stuff like slogans and images.
4-) GOOD TO USE A COPPER WATER BOTTLE:
Every good event has food trucks and many drink bars full of amazing drinks and cocktails. There is a way to avoid the mass amount of plastic wastes from there is by bringing things direct from the home like Copper Water Bottle, Copper Mule Mug, Copper Glasses and all those reusable cutlery instead of using the plastic things out there.
All these Copper articles are small and detachable making easy for everyone to chuck them into the bags.
As, these days are hotter and shots a Death End, a longer reusable Copper Tower Bottle In England is best as it is sleek and keeps the water cold enough with immense of benefits so it is a must have for the further events of Pride.
It is very essential to have fun. In the UK Mainland and England, they all are celebrating since last 50 years, this Pride. This year there is an approximately 1.5 million people took part in the celebrations but, this time it is good that PRIDE WAS CELEBRATED IN AN ECO-FRIENDLY MANNER and this is the lively amount is enough to make everyone proud enough and then, make the future look even more and more brighter.
0 notes
larkingaroundlondon · 2 years
Text
Day 7 - Mudlarking, Strolling & Hamilton
Mudlarking -
Good morning ! Today I slept in ! It was pretty great. Woke up around 9, had breakfast in bed ( porridge & tea ). My body has been going non stop the last week. Waking up at the crack of dawn, eating breakfast at 8am at the BandB and not coming back home until 11pm at night. Complete exhausting. Might of hit my tired wall. But alas! I remember that it's my last day of MUDLARKING! Dustin gathers his stuff and takes off to TK maxx and I prepare for my muddy morning. I gather all my supplied and head down to the foreshore. Tide is out late today ( 1:20pm) so I leave at 10:30 so I can arrive about 3 hours before super low tide. I try to watch my fluid intake since i'll be out there for 4 hours and not wanting to leave to go to the bathroom ( and because there's no bathroom around OR trashcans? ). I walk at a super quick speed up the street, down across the bridge and over to a coffee place. Because, you know I need some espresso to keep me going. I order a iced coffee to cool me off before standing in the sun all afternoon. The barista continues to put my milk, ice and coffee in a martini mixer and shakes it up. Something ive never seen before, but i thought "what a good idea!" I made my way up to the gates and take a deep breath in. The smell of sea air and 1,975 years of history get me all exited for the day! I slowly walk down the steps and plop myself on the last two steps to put on my wellies and finish my iced martini shaken coffee. There I meet another lady who's walking her dog. She asks me a million questions about mudlarking, an I encourage her to get a permit and start her mudlarking journey. Most Londoners ive spoken too about mudlarking know nothing about it. It's quite shocking actually. They literally don't know the fun that awaits them! My phone starts blowing up with the "Ladies who lark " text thread wishing me luck today and to post what ive found. I have a mudlarking community already, and it feels really special. The first piece I pickup looks like some old metal trowel missing the wooden handle. It's pretty rusty and gross. As I continue down, i realize I am the only one down there. And here I am thinking the shore is gonna be loaded with so many mudlarks we will be fighting over where to lark. totally not the case. In the far distance, i spot another man. Which is reassuring that I am not alone! Today was like a honey pot down there. I found a ton of pottery ( roman to 1800s), pins, a glass bottle with the wax seal still on it, pins ( even a really large Tudor one) a 1700s button, fools gold ( he helped me find a ton ) part of a Bartmann face german jug, and a copper nail. With an hour left before the tide started coming in I made it north and met a man called " Pietr". He was larking right at the shoreline by a giant drain. We got to talked and he says " by the drains is the only spot he larks at. There, everything is washed up from the streets to the Thames. Lots of metal gets built up, along with coins, pins , jewelry and anything else you might loose walking down the streets of London. As we were talking, he found a wig curler, tin type, and a pretty old shoe which I watched him dig out ( 1800s see movie ). He was pretty knowledgeable and told me he's been doing this for 5 years now. I found him on the facebook group and he's found so much cool stuff including gold coins, rare pottery and anything else you can think of. He was able to help me identify the things I found *( even some asbestos ) and place dates on them. It was like my own Archeologist friend on the shore. I loved every minute, and secretly wished I could join Pietre on the shore and go mudlarking everyday. A girl can dream. He was super friendly and wasn't bothered by me asking the silliest of questions. The tide was coming in fast, so I decided to make my way home. Heading back, one always keeps their head down in hopes to find more treasure on the way up. I stumbled upon a nice plastic covid glove wishing me luck, in some short of cheeky way ;) It was a great day and I loved every minute. My finger nails were gross and every part of my lower body and hands were covered in mud, and I couldn't of been happier.
Hamilton -
Back at the hotel I found Dustin on the bench and dumped out all my finds to show him my treasure. It's like a pirate dumping out their "fools" gold haha!
After getting all that mud off me, we made our way to downtown London to walk around before going out to Hamilton. On a pizza kick, we stopped at one in around downtown. Good, but not as good as Bath. Nothing compares to the pizza in Bath! We haven't had dessert here, so we went over to "Ole & Steen" a danish bakery where we grabbed some chocolate goodness. My my, what a treat!
After dessert, walked over to our show, Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. What an amazing performance. I can't get the songs out of my head. Enjoyable for sure ! 5 STARS!
Clean up time .
We made it home pretty late, but still on a mudlarking "high" I decided to stay up and clean all my mudlarking goodness. So here I am in this tiny bathroom until the wee hours of the moring, scrubbing down the pipes, pottery and bits and bobs and laying everything out on the floor to dry for the night. I didn't find a complete pipe,  but it was cool to make a whole pipe from the shards of pipe stem I found all over the shore.
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3dheven · 2 years
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A desastrous Gyftmas party with the skeletons - Part 1
In our little world where all the skeletons are leaving, it's almost Gyftmas and good old Papyrus organised a party, depite Sans telling it's a terrible idea after what happened during the barbecue. Fortunately, it will get better... right?
I cut it in two, part 2 is coming tomorrow with the other skeletons !
Undertale Sans - He is a bit wary. Last time, the guys set his garden on fire, so he doesn't feel very good. He spend the evening mainly next to the food, to make sure the Fell skeletons don't drink too much eggnog. No one wants to see drunk skeletons fight. After this, it was present time. Thanks to the Secret Santa, he had to give Red something. So... He kinda forgot and just put a woopie cushion in a box. Red loved it. Also his Secret Santa thankfully gift him back a woopie cushion so he still has one. It was Copper. Though, towards the end of the night, Blue convinced him to participate to a karaoke. Now, he's terrible at singing, and he replaces most of the lyrics with puns, so the others kinda send him back to watch the food, but he doesn't regret anything. He keeps punning from here.
Undertale Papyrus - As the main host of the party, he is everywhere at once, making sure there's food to everyone and that everyone is having fun. Except for the first part of the evening. After this, he mistook some fruit juice with eggnog and he was so thirsty he drank an entire bottle of it. It ended up being... interisting. Papyrus is literally clinging to everyone crossing his road and he wants to hug every skeleton under the mistletoe. At some point he got out to sing Chrismas carols to the deers in the forest because "OMG SANS. THE FOREST ANIMALS MUST BE SO SAD THEY DIDN'T HAVE BEEN INVITED. I'M A TERRIBLE HOST NYOOH HOO HOOOOO". Willow went with him and locked him up inside his chicken coop so he can sing to his chicken without putting himself in danger. Then he passed out here after some time and got a terrible headache in the morning. He didn't have time to open his present, but he saw Blue was really happy with the figurines he gave him. Ben was his Santa Claus and gave him new boots.
Underswap Sans - "PAPY CAN WE OPEN THE PRESENTS?" "no" "AND NOW?" "still no" "CAN WE NOW?" He's literally vibrating with excitement in front of the Gyftmas tree as his brother is holding him back. When someone says if they can open the presents, Blue sprints in the boxes like an enraged kitten and ripped off every box with his name on it while screaming excitingly. They did a Secret Santa, and it turned that Papyrus got him and he gifts him several figurines he was missing and now he is just screaming like a fangirl in the middle of the living-room. Then he bounced to see Edge reaction to his own gift. It's a huge pirate theme scarf. Edge blushes and thanks him with a low voice. Then Blue hugs him and it was too much. After this, Blue improvised a karaoke, but with all these drunk skeleton, it actually was a catastrophe. At least he had fun!
Underswap Papyrus - Honey was very anxious after the last time, but he had to give his gift away. Thank god, it was just Sam. Farmtale brothers are simple skeletons, so some seed and a new watering can was enough to make him happy. The gift he recieved on the other hand... He almost had a hurt attack when he discovered a half eaten mouse in his box. He thought it was Oak at first, but Oak and Nugget were actually each other Santa Claus. So who? When he turns around, Dune is sitting, looking at him intensely. Honey feels so awkward he decides to go immediately drink eggnog to forget. He ended up singing horrible puns songs with Sans during his brother's karaoke.
Underfell Sans - He was so exciting about this! He never recieved any gift before, because no one is celebrated Gyftmas in Underfell. He genuinely loved Sans' woopie cushion and showed him to literally everyone because he was so happy someone cared enough about him to gift him something. He bought socks to Error, and he seemed to like them since he put them on right away. Red is having a nice time with Rus playing video games, until Blue stole the TV for his stupid karaoke. Then Rus and Red came home to continue their game.
Underfell Papyrus - He stayed mostly all night in the kitchen, cooking with Willow. He prefers this anyway. It's calmer and Willow is not judging him, so he opens up a little and actually chat like a normal personn for once. They made a break for the presents. Edge was a bit nervous about this part, but turns out Blue bought him a really new cool scarf that he put right away. He tried to thank him, but then Blue hugged him and it was a little too much. His gift was easy enough since he picked Rumba, wich is just an alternate version of his own brother. Usually, he gifts collars, but he thought it might no be well interpretated by his brother, so he went with... a tie. With a pun of it. He hated it, but he knew he would like it. Rumba was in shock when he discovered he was his Secret Santa. Good. He spend the rest of the night making sure his own brother didn't end drunk, but surprisingly, Red just left at some point with Rus. And now, Edge was so jealous he walked to Nox and just "YOU. HANG OUT WITH ME. NOW." Except Nox is not as clean as Red and tried to kiss him, calling him "Master" and crap. It ruined his night, and he didn't managed to get rid of him before a long time.
Horrortale Sans - Oak stayed at the table with the Horrorswap, Horrorfell and Farmtale brothers. Like all of them, he is mostly here for the free food, and it turns out the guys are very nice, even the Fell ones despite being similar to the sassy younger ones. Funnily enough, he picked Nugget and Nugget picked him for the Secret Santa. They both gift nice food to each other, mostly chocolate that Oak immediately hide in his ribcage so Willow doesn't find out about this. When Blue started the karaoke, all of them decided it was too noisy and they went back to the farm, where they found Papyrus, locked in the chicken coop, passed out. They spend the night near the fire, talking about their own universes, then they went to sleep because, man, they're all too old to stay awake all night.
Horrortale Papyrus - He helped Papyrus all night long, since he was struggling to do everything, which included cooking with Edge. He surprisingly talked mostly with Edge, since he seemed to have a lot on the heart. He picked Pumpkin for the Secret Santa. He never saw someone so relieved to see him. Willow bought him a new hoodie, some romance books since he figured Honey loved them and some honey candies. Pumpkin cried and hugged him, and Willow cried because he cried and hugged him back. Then someone put a gift almost in his face, refusing to watch him in the eyes. Torpedo is his secret santa and bought him literally a new computer like it's nothing. Willow is in shock, but when he looks around to thank him, Torpedo is gone. Willow is not sure if he should keep it, seems quite unfair, and it's stressing him out all night long. When his brother and the others Horror bros went home, he followed them, after making sure Edge didn't need him anymore. Well, seeing him so anamoured with Nox, he left him in peace.
Swapfell Sans - He was surprised Copper was so nice to him, giving him wine as his christmas gift. Sure, it had a weird pink colour, but who cares? So he drinked it. Again, and again. Then he read a paper in the end of the bottle. Turns out it's not wine but a love potion. Oh shit. He tried to resist, and he almost managed to, but then Edge proposed to hang out with him, and it's like he said magic world and Nox immediately flirt with him. He has no idea what he's doing. Thank god, Sun came to thank him for his gift - a beartrap -, and he got distracted enough from Edge to gain self control again... Until Blue started his Karaoke, and Dune accidentally touch him, and suddenly he really wanted to hug him. And he spend the rest of the night hugging him like a Teddy Bear. Poor Dune is traumatised.
Swapfell Papyrus - He got nothing for Gyftmas, he didn't want to. All he wanted was to play the new Five Nights at Freddy's with Red, and this is what they'll do on night. Once Blue start whining to have the TV, they headed back home to have peace. Though they stole some food on their way, there's no way they're cooking by themselves.
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sp00kworm · 3 years
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Silence (Part 2)
Part 1 - A Bar Brawl
Part 3 - The Star Goddess (Bloodhound’s Ending)
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Pairing: Revenant x Gender Neutral/ Non-specified Reader
Warnings: Threats of Violence. 
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A Totem to Remember - Revenant’s Ending
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Loba’s debut seemed to attract more customers than you were ready to deal with. On the night of the test match, you had to refresh the beer kegs twice and you were almost out of a brand of whiskey known as the Red Devil. It was annoying, but you knew you had to refresh stock as you stacked freshly cleaned glasses back under the bar for the next day. Your bot in the back chimed happily as he opened his great washer stomach and offered you another tray of red hot, freshly cleaned glasses.
“Thanks buddy.” You cooed at the robot before taking the tray and patting his head with one hand. Spinning back around, you headed back out into the bar and hummed to yourself as you started moving towards the cabinet of tumblers. You held the tray on your hip as you plucked open the cabinet before carefully putting the glasses into their correct places, in order of size and shape. Mindlessly, your fingers moved on muscle memory as your little washer buddy moved to plug himself back in for the night, waving before he powered down and his battery began to charge. You patted him softly as you placed the tray away for him and turned to lock the kitchen for the night.
 The lights flickered. You looked at the ceiling before a gravelly voice spoke above you.
“You’re oblivious, skinbag.” Revenant purred from the ceiling.
You looked up and realised his face was close to your own, his arms extended, and his legs pinned into the metal of the ceiling. His body contorted monstrously before his head twisted and he dropped from the ceiling with a soft thump.
“What the hell are you doing on my ceiling, Revenant?” You tried to keep calm, but you were quick to fly into fury with the Simulacrum, “You don’t get to just waltz in here after…”
“You don’t get to waltz in here after what you’ve done.” He mimicked back at you with his hand snapping in your face, “Tell me something I haven’t heard before.” Revenant drawled as he looked at the whiskey behind you. He pointed a sharp finger at it, “Give me that.”
“Uh, no.” You gave an exasperated huff and snatched the liquor, “I suggest you pay for it first, plus, we’re closed.”
“I think you’re forgetting just how much money I’ve given you already, squishy.” Revenant purred, “I gave you a thousand credits last time I was here, that pays for more than seven of those whiskey bottles, I know they’re not that expensive.”
 With another hum, his metal fingers reached for a glass, snatching it before you could rescue that from him too.
“Okay. I don’t think you understand that you literally killed a man in my bar, and that your hush money doesn’t just sweep that under the rug.” You pointed a finger in his face angrily, “You pay, or you get out.”
The threat made him laugh. Revenant threw back his head and laughed a deep metallic noise, his mouth opening slightly to reveal the sparking copper inside of his mouth, “I like you. Not just anyone gets away with pointing a finger in my face.” He purred but his hand snapped up and grabbed hold of your wrist. Slowly, his cold sharp fingers crawled down your arm before they grabbed hold of your fingers and pushed, “But point it at me again and I’ll take the nail and skin off and pin your eyes open to watch.”
“This is not the way to get a free drink.” You uttered, in shock at the severity of his threat.
Revenant hummed again before his electronics whirred and he released your hand back to you, “Sure. You’re something odd, skinbag. Get me that drink, I need something to do.” It wasn’t polite nor happy, but you relented and opened the cabinet to retrieve his drink. The expensive liquor was strong, and you turned back around with it in your hand before undoing the screw cap and pouring it into an icy tumbler.
 Revenant eased himself into the bar stool, ignoring your disgruntled look as he took the tumbler and admired the dark colour of the whiskey. He swirled the liquid for a while before taking a small amount into his mouth and swallowing, his neck jarring with the pumps before he gave a small hiss.
“Nice burn.” He commented as he slumped over the bar and looked at the clock on the wall, hardly fazed by the lateness of his visit or how inconvenient he was being to you, “I see you’ve been making a killing with the games broadcasts.”
You didn’t know whether he was being genuine, “Well…I guess that money came in handy.” You shot back at him, “Blood money seems to have made my business flourish.”
“Sometimes money buys happiness.” Revenant drawled, “I got plenty of it. Just ask.”
“I don’t want your money.” You scoffed, “I’ve had plenty of that already.”
Revenant growled, “Then just what do you want from me?!” His fingers rapped along the bar top.
“If you didn’t get it, Revenant, I want you to get out and leave me alone!” You shouted.
 The Simulacrum watched you, his black and orange eyes bright before the orange went small and he snatched his drink back off the bar. He lifted it to the separation in his face where the skull like white met red and opened the hinge to dump the rest of the alcohol inside. Before you could snatch the expensive bottle away from him, he had it in his hand. Revenant said nothing to you as he held the bottle by his leg, his long arm popping upwards with a shrugging readjustment before he whipped around and headed to the door, stalking on long legs. He didn’t glance back as he stormed away, slamming the door behind him with a grunt before disappearing beyond the bright LEDs of the streetlamps and into the night. You looked at the bar and scoffed at the scratch marks down the wood, running your finger over them before you locked the door and shut off the lights to head up to your room above the bar for some well-earned rest.
 Revenant didn’t show up for the next few days. You were glad for the peace again as you ran through your normal daily routine, until it came to cleaning day for you little dishwasher friend. The robot unit chirped happily as you slapped at his dishwashing compartment and watched it open, the cogs and pistons whirring as the racks and doors stretched to their full capacity. Carefully you took a spanner and went to carefully unscrew the back of the water pipes from his back and laid them over the counter and into the sink to avoid any gross water dripping through onto the floor. The pipes smelled. You coughed as you reached for the cleaning fluid and whistled gently as you opened the back of the washing compartment to expose the hose outlets. The robot chimed a whistle as you poured the cleaner inside his belly and started scrubbing, whistling back softly as the suds started to foam up.
“You love cleaning time huh buddy?” You asked.
The robot chirped with a smiley face appearing on the screen which acted as its face.
“Hey, I know, I won’t be too long!” You promised as you took a wire wool to a particularly rough spot of dried grease. You continued to hum as you worked and poured the cleaning fluid down the water pipes to clean them.
 “Okay buddy, lets get these back attached to you.” The washing bot chirped and span for you again as you held his water pipes up and reached for your spanner to crank the bolts back into place.
“And…” You cranked the bolt one last time, settling it in place tightly, “There!” You declared, “Right, go and set yourself for a full rinse and you should feel like brand new!”
The robot chirped and tugged himself into the corner again before starting his cycle. A happy face trundled across his screen as he started the timer for his cycle and plugged himself back into to the charging point to continue the wash in sleep mode.
“See you in a bit buddy.” You patted his washing compartment and headed back into the bar, wiping your hands on a towel before you looked at the empty place and the bright sunshine outside. You weren’t open just yet. It was too early for serving and you felt tiredness seep into your eyes as you looked for the coffee machine. It was usually only used for Expresso Martinis. It needed water and you took the coffee jar and filled it before pouring it into the machine and looking through just what you fancied to drink. If anything had come out of the war, it was the new, expansive range of hot drinks. Tea from far off planets you had never heard of. You plucked free one box with a curious looking fruit on the front before taking the strainer and filling it with the leaves and letting the hot water drip through into the large pot.
 As you watched the water drip, you heard a noise above you. The clink of metal. The barest noise of a scrape of metal over plaster. Slowly, you peered upwards. Nothing. The ceiling was its normal, usual painted colour, the metal support beams poking out of the plaster. You frowned but looked back at your tea. There was another noise. Metal scraping over each other. The noise was coming from behind the closed door to the kitchen. You left the tea unattended and reached for the door handle, pressing the pad to open it with a whirr of mechanical locks. It clunked open. Nothing. Your washing robot chirped at you in confusion his screen flashing with a question mark across his face before you smiled, trying to ease his nerves.
“Hey, don’t panic. I just thought I heard something…” You trailed off as you looked past your washing robot and into the room. Nothing was out of place.
It was then that your washing bot gave a strangled beep and danced away from where he was attached to the wall, pulling the water pipes tight as he beeped in upset.
 “Pah.” A silver clawed hand retracted up back on top of the fridge after taking a rude swipe at your friend, “Stupid tin-can.” Revenant hissed from the giant chrome refrigerator, flashing his claws back at the robot once more.
“How the fuck did you even get in here?” You asked as you looked up at the Simulacrum, “I told you not to come back.”
Revenant’s body contorted on the top of the fridge, his head twisting to the side as his orange eyes span and swirled in the shadows, “I know.” He rumbled, “I…” He went silent as his pistons clicked and he slid over the top of the furniture and down onto the floor with a click and a hiss.
“You what? You needed another bottle of whiskey?” You challenged.
Revenant stood to his full height, looming over you, the joints of his fingers clicking before he gave a grunt, “Something like that.” He rumbled as he looked down at you before he looked back at your washing bot and flexed his shoulders, “I didn’t know you had company.”
 Suddenly, that tension was gone, and Revenant stepped past you to flash his hand at the other robot again. It was a threat perhaps, but your washing robot chirped unhappily again.
“Stupid bag of bolts.” Revenant grumbled at it.
“Hey.” You intervened, “Leave him alone. He’s just a washing bot.” You grabbed Revenant’s arm.
It was like the Simulacrum froze in time, his eyes glaring down at the place where your fingers wrapped around the metal. With a snort, Revenant tugged his arm free from your grip.
“It’s just a washing bot, like you said.” Revenant stalked from the kitchen, his mechanical legs thumping softly as he went. As he left you made sure your friend was safe. Beyond a small nick at the base of his neck he was fine. You nudged him back into his power station to continue his cycles in sleep mode.
 You followed Revenant into the bar to see him picking through your cabinet again, his metal fingers tapping along the labels of the liquors as he decided back to pluck from your reserves.
“What happened to the rest of that posh stuff?” Revenant asked with a hum as he looked through the back of the cabinet.
“You had the last bottle. The supplier hasn’t been in a while.” You watched him look back before he selected another expensive looking bottle. This time it was tequila. You didn’t say anything as he took it out and eyed the label before disappearing into the corner of your bar, slinking into the booth farthest away from you in silence. The Simulacrum didn’t glance back at you as he cracked open the bottle and placed the glass neck between his metal jaws before tipping his head back and emptying a good portion of the alcohol into his synthetic stomach. You watched with a small cringe as he seemed unfazed by the burning liquor. His orange eyes snapped to you as you watched him from the bar.
 His gravelly voice carried well across the room, gracing your ears with the deeply pissed off timbre, “What are you looking at?” Revenant asked with a roll of his optics, “I’m not going to steal anything.” He rumbled.
You watched him for a moment before replying, “I’m more concerned why you want to be here.”
Revenant looked you dead in the eyes as his mechanical thumb stroked the label of the bottle, “Call it a whim, whatever. It’s quiet and there isn’t that annoying Andrade brat. Don’t go thinking anything different. You tell them where I am, and I’ll take great pleasure in making you squeal like the little meatsack you are.”
“You know. There’s no need to threaten me with a good time every time you come in here.” This was a new tactic, and you watched his optics twitch from his bottle to your face.
“Are you making fun of me, skinsuit?” Revenant growled, his two metal jaws parting slightly to reveal the sheen of copper in his mouth with an angry snarl.
“Hardly.” You scoffed, “Fine.” You relented as you headed for the light switch, “Stay here, but I’m going to bed. Enjoy your pity party.” With a snap of the lights, you walked back into the kitchen and to the back staircase to your own apartment. You made sure to lock the door firmly before stripping off for a shower and heading to bed.
 Revenant peered into the darkness with a hum, his fingers tapping along the table before he tugged the bottle of liquor closer and snapped on the holoscreen in the corner, searching for something to fill the noise in the dark bar with outside of his own memories playing over and over again behind his eyes.
 “Skinsuit.” There was a grunt before the bed shook and dipped either side of your body, “Skinsuit!”
With a jolt you woke up, just to come face to face with the skull-head of Revenant and a sneer.
“Finally. I thought I was going to have to choke you awake.” Revenant grumbled as he peered over you, his legs splayed like a spider either side of you as he looked down at you tucked into the covers. His hands pulled back from either side of your head and you watched him flash his claws as he sat back, still perched over your legs, looming like a deranged killer.
“Do I need to ask why you’re up in my room?” You asked groggily, wiping sleep from your eyes as Revenant watched you sit up with great interest. The Simulacrum purred, a low rumbling from somewhere in his throat, as you met him face to face, glaring at his orange and black eyes.
 “Your little washing bot is screaming downstairs. It sounds horrendous.” Revenant didn’t move away, his skeletal nose rushing with air as he inhaled the smell of you.
“If you did something Revenant…”
“You’ll what? You’ll kill me?” He wheezed a great laugh as his claws dragged at your sheets, “Good luck with that, skinsuit. There’s millions of bodies just waiting for me to be reuploaded into them.” He snarled before rasping again as his arms and legs whirred into downwards positions, allowing him to snap, flip and crawl off your bed in one, bizarrely fluid motion before he clicked back into place and stood over the side of your bed with another, odd, calculating rumble.  
 You decided to ignore his snide remark and bitter tone, “Is he malfunctioning?” You asked as you threw back the covers and climbed out of bed to face the Simulacrum. He was intimidating at nearly seven feet tall but slim and streamlined with the ability to move silently at will despite being made from entirely heavy bulletproof metal. He looked down at you, his metal lips parted, unimpressed with your pyjamas covered in small Nesse prints.
“Not a clue.” His orange eyes looked you up and down before he strolled over to look through your desk.
“Hey, asshole.” You snapped at him as he tugged a thick looking document from a fat wad of paper, “No one invited you to look through my things.”
Revenant chuckled, “No. They didn’t…” He pulled open one of the drawers underneath him and hummed at the pens and random assortments of stationary in there, “A penis pen.” He held the phallic pen between his fingers, “Practical.”
 You ignored his taunting swaying of the pen back and forth and hastened down the stairs towards the sound of your screaming washing bot. As you opened the door to the bar kitchen you ducked as a pot came flying towards your head. It clattered against the wall and smashed into several pieces. You avoided the shards as you pushed into the kitchen and saw the pipes spraying water down onto the floor and the robot trying to slam his front closed.
“Oh my…” You didn’t finish your sentence as he caught sight of you and screamed again, the screen in his stomach covered with crying faces as he rushed towards you, holding the severed and burst pipes in one hand and his drawer closed with the other. He screeched again waving the dripping pipes in front of you before shrinking behind your form, ducking as low as it could get as Revenant filled the entrance way into the kitchen.
 His raspy laugh made you scowl. Revenant slinked in through the doorway and set about scratching his claws along the tiles, making a noise that was so ear grating you had to clench your teeth.
“I didn’t expect for him to piss all over your floor, I’ll admit.” The Simulacrum laughed, harshly and entirely mean.
“I knew you had something to do with this!” You pointed a finger in his face, “Why can’t you just leave me alone?! Why do you have to insist on being foul for a reaction?” Your anger seethed out of you as you hid your little robot behind you.
Revenant sneered, “You’re no fun, skinsuit.” He snarled before he snagged the pipes from your robot’s hands and grabbed the mechanical washing bot along the floor, kicking and screaming. His claws crunched into the metal of the washer bot’s shoulder as he pulled it towards the wall it had previously been stationed at. It wiggled violently before Revenant heaved it up and held the pipes up before driving them together with a metallic thunk. The connectors clicked back together easily, and the washing robot beeped confusedly as Revenant stood him against the wall and banged on the front of his tummy, slamming the door closed with a vicious thump of his metal palm. The door remained closed and the washing robot chirped in confusion.
 You looked at the floor and then back to Revenant as he trudged back through the puddles of water and loomed over you again. He gave a long, low, robotic chuckle as he spun his hand and curled the claws towards his palm.
“I fixed your issue.” He stated with a look at his claws before he snapped them into a spike and made sure to push you back against the door, “Your welcome, skinsuit.”
You felt anger boil in your gut, “What? Do you want me to thank you or something?” You spat as you looked up at the unnatural orange optics. They span, the robotic pupils clicking as he focused on your face and the anger that painted your expression.
Revenant’s fingers curled into the wall, “Something like that.” He whispered as he stared at the anger on your face, “I didn’t do this, before you blame me.” With a scoff, he released you from the wall and sauntered through the puddles of water towards the back door, “Nice seeing you…” He turned to look at you, his headscarf rippling in the breeze, “You look nice when you sleep.”
“FREAK!” You screamed after him as he disappeared up the smooth concrete wall and over the next building with a hiss of pistons.
 Your washing bot chirped sadly and held out his hands to you with a shake. You looked and spotted the spanner in his hands as he sheepishly rubbed his washing compartment.
“Well. At least I don’t have to bill him for this as well…but maybe I will to spite the bastard.” You considered as you carefully took a towel to your friend and then grumbled, wading across the kitchen to find the mop to get rid of the rest of the puddles.
 Revenant seemed to lurk in the corners of your vision after that, always sat in the back of the bar, with some bottle of hard liquor and a deadly, judgemental gaze turned on the rest of the patrons. Those who knew him from the Apex Games did not dare approach him. He took great pleasure in launching a young man over the table once from a handshake, laughing as he stalked over to him and signed his name on the boy’s cheek in his own blood. You had promptly doubled his price for drinks that night, but the Simulacrum did not complain, he paid at closing and disappeared into the night. Sometimes he lurked after closing time. More often than not, you found him glaring down at your washing bot as the robot thrust a mop at him to try and get him off the cupboards or fridges. Angry beeps were then met with your angry glares. For some reason, Revenant adored the look. Anger furrowing your brows and a snarl on your lips made him feel smug, almost joyful. He was positively gleeful when he was tormenting you.
 However, the bar was shut for the workers day, a holiday for most of the city, and Revenant was left without his normal activities to entertain himself. He stalked around his room for a while, jumping and reaching for items he had hung from his ceiling as exercise before he looked at the charging port and bed. There was nothing else in his room. A spare scarf was hung in the wardrobe along with the scraps of a suit he had taken great pleasure in peeling apart in front of the other legends before a conference. With a huff he opened the ventilation shaft and rotated his spinal column before his shoulders snapped and tucked in close underneath his arms, allowing for him to fit into the vent and scuttle along to the next room. Noxious fumes made him pause, but with another slow filtration of air he scoffed and opened the grate on the other side.
“Mercury won’t rot my insides, Nox.” His head turned one hundred and eighty degrees before his body followed in a contortion of metal, spilling out and rotating on top of Alexander’s glassware cabinet.
Caustic looked at him with vicious cold green eyes, “I’ve yet to find anything but charged copper dispersals that will have an effect.” He uttered softly, clinical and effective as he opened his filtration systems and watched the mercury vapours swirl away into the chambers above, “Why are you bothering me, Simulacrum?”
Revenant lowered his head over the side of the cabinet, “I smelt rotten eggs. Sulfur. But maybe you just passed gas.” He jeered as he watched Caustic cork the rest of the reaction and pull another yet of heavy metals from a rack alongside various acids.
“Maybe hydrofluoric acid will make you quieter?” Caustic hissed, “I’m working.”
“I know.” Revenant hummed from the cabinet, “But you’re not that busy.” He dragged his claws over the top of the metal with a laugh.
 Caustic closed the arm opening of his experimental chamber with a slam as he peeled free his gloves in order to point a scarred finger at the Simulacrum, “You never come in here unless you’re bored.” He observed as he removed his goggles and respirator, “And that isn’t often…Not after you found that little toy to play with. Did Bloodhound not warn you off enough with that slice to your oil recycler?”
Revenant growled from the cabinet as he leaned over the top, leering at the Chemist underneath him, “It was fucking ugly bleeding shit down my legs but there’s always another body for me…Bloodhound didn’t heal to quickly from my blow I think.” He flashed his claws and hummed as he tucked himself back on the unit, far out of Caustic’s reach, “Besides. That feral brat doesn’t tell me what to do.”
“No but they might be inclined to give you another cut for harassing a…what do you call them…skinsuit?” Alexander’s eyes lit up with silent glee as he watched Revenant click and adjust on top of his glassware cabinet.
“Carry on old man and I’ll show you just what I did to Bloodhound.” Revenant hissed as he laid over the top, his metal legs hanging down over Caustic’s head.
 Caustic binned his gloves and hung his goggles after washing them before he turned on the air conditioning and moved back towards his desk, “I have no desire to taste steel today. So,” He span in his chair, his rectangle frame glasses perched on the end of his nose, “Are you going to tell me what you’re here for? Evidently your little toy isn’t around to entertain you today.”
Revenant propped his head up on his arm, tapping a claw against the metal beneath his eye before he rumbled, “Its…boring.” With a small sigh he looked down at Caustic, “I didn’t think I could feel but its exciting to watch them, like a little rat running around. A little angry rat.”
Alexander was turned back to his desk, working over something before he replied, “You might be an illegally made conscious robot but you will still carry humanity…even if your programming was once to kill.” He shrugged up at the robot, “Perhaps you are having a mild fascination? Infatuation if you will. I can’t say I have felt it myself… The idea of such intimacy disgusts me, but perhaps you are more human than you originally thought?” Glee laced Caustic’s tone as he smirked up at Revenant.
Anger churned in Revenant’s processors, “Human am I.” He slipped from the cabinet and slid in one movement, grabbing for Caustic’s throat.
 His fingers were cold, but Caustic let him grapple from the chair. The Chemist was far shorter than him but was large, bulky and strong despite his love for poisonous gases.
“Did I hit a nerve?” He asked with a laugh and a wheeze which was followed by a cough.
Revenant looked down at him, orange eyes swirling before he leaned close to Caustic’s face, “Compare me to you soft bellied sacks of skin again and I’ll slice you from groin to neck just for the fun of it…Then maybe I’ll show your little apprentice what you look like.”
“I dare you to try Simulacrum.” Caustic whispered before he pried the robotic hand off his throat and sat back down in his chair, slicking his hair back with a huff, “Why not just ask to see them?”  
“Pah.” Revenant’s joints clicked as he climbed back onto the cabinet, “Like I want to see them.” He hissed, “They do nothing but tell me to leave.”
“Have you considered that is because you are foul?!” Caustic shouted as he leaned back to see Revenant disappear back into the vent, “Idiotic fool.” He cursed softly before erasing the measurements for the next reactions he had planned.
 Days suddenly past without Revenant in the corner of the bar. Your washing buddy seemed quiet and contemplative without having to beat him off the countertops, and you found yourself slowly relaxing until it was concerning. The Simulacrum was never gone for long. It was a week since before you knew it and you knew they were still in the downtime between seasons. He had no reason for being gone. You caught yourself one night as you worried about where he had gotten to.
“Probably finally got what was coming to him for that big mouth.” You whispered as you took the cleaned glasses from your robot and began to place them away.
The door opened with a creak and you huffed, “We’re closed!” You shouted over your shoulder, “I swore I turned the sign around…”
There was no one in the bar. You scowled as you opened the bar door and walked towards the entrance where the door was propped open an inch or so, letting the warm air into the bar.
“Hello?” You asked quietly as you opened the door and peered outside.
“Skinsuit.” Revenant hummed from above you.
 You peered upwards and felt a sense of relief wash over you as you gazed into the orange eyes of the sour looking Simulacrum above you. His head turned, much like a bird, as he regarded you.
“You’ve been gone a while.” You commented idly as you stood outside the door. Your foot hit the pavement and the Simulacrum held up one silver finger.
He pointed down at your foot, “I think you just stood on something.”
You jumped when cardboard crumpled and something rattled around in the box, sending it shooting towards the taxi rails. With a rush you grabbed for the box and frowned at the largeness of it.
“Why did you get me an animal?” You asked as you heaved the box to the front door, eyeing the air holes stamped in the side.
“Call it an investment.” He grunted as he dropped from your roof and stood behind you, watching with eager eyes as you carefully opened the lid.
 A growl sounded from within and you jumped back at the sight of the small Prowler cub pacing back and forth in the box.
“REVENANT, WHAT THE FUCK?!” You screeched as the Prowler cub scrambled from the box and hissed, flaring the bare bones of its frills at you, trying to appear intimidating.
“No need to shout. You’ll scare the little guy.” Revenant insisted as he closed the door, “I found him is all. Thought you might like it. Kings Canyon…well its not great but if you head into the jungles of Leviathan there’s still some of these things that survived the purging of the planet.”
“How did you even find one?” You asked as the cub rushed underneath a table, quivering and hissing sadly, “They’re…endangered.”
“It was stuck in a pit. Probably game hunters. I nabbed it. Its weedy and pathetic looking so I thought you might like it.” He shrugged, “I can’t keep animals in the tower so he’s yours.”
You stood silently for a moment, trying to figure out just what the gift meant. That Revenant trusted you? That he thought about you? You didn’t know what to make of it.
 “Are you going to pay for the food?” You asked with a smirk aimed at the Simulacrum stood over you.
The seven-foot robot gave a single, dry laugh before he held up a large bag, “Way ahead of you, skinsuit.” He reached in and pulled out a heavy looking metal dish, “Don’t give me that look.” He gestured to your face, “So happy, doing that thing with your little beady eyes. Its revolting.” With a scoff he pushed past you and headed towards the cowering cub before plucking it from the floor, ignoring the black teeth snapping at him as he pulled at its frill and admired the deep blue and orange colours along his back.
“Hey.” You cautiously approached, “Put him back on the floor, I have a good idea on how to win him over.” You gestured to Revenant who rolled his eyes but dropped the cub with a huff and grabbed a bottle of liquor to watch from the bar as you took off your sweater and gently eased it under the table.
 The Prowler ignored you, mouth agape and dark under its neck. Next you took the food bowel and pulled out the food Revenant had gathered. A small amount of cubed beef was enough, and you placed it in his bowl before filling the other and leaving for the bar.
“Really? That’s it?” He droned, “How boring. I thought you might wrestle it and get eaten alive.” He trailed his fingers over the wood, “Now what?”
“We leave him alone. He needs to settle in. Its all new and traumatic.” You insisted as the cub took a sniff of your sweater and laid in the mass with a sad whimper.
“How dull…Maybe he’ll chew through a pipe in the night.” Revenant wondered as he tipped his head back and poured some liquor into his mouth.
“Hopefully not…but thank you. I didn’t think you were capable of being nice.” You whispered as you watched the Prowler bed himself down.
“Don’t get used to it.” Revenant snapped, but without as much of his usual bite, “It might come back to bite you.”
“Well, it very well might. Look at his teeth.” You joked, for once feeling at ease with the murderous robot in the room.
Revenant only gave another series of dry laughs.
“Demonio.” You cooed at the small cub as he attacked a hunk of meat with talons and teeth. It chewed on its back teeth before its ears pricked behind the frill around his neck.
“Demonio.” You cooed once again and the Prowler looked at you with a grumbling chirp, licking the blood from around its mouth as it eyed the small, marrow filled bone in your palm, “Come on boy.” You wiggled the bone back and forth as the orange eyes tracked your hand along its course.
“Do you like making fun of me?” Revenant grumbled from his seat at the edge of the bar, “That damn brat is the only one who calls me that.” He hissed.
Demonio eyed the bone before he got to his feet and prowled over before licking at your fingers. He took a nip before waiting for the bone.
“Good boy.” You reached with your other hand and touched his frill, gently running your hand down his nose before you gave him the bone and stood up to head back to Revenant.
 “He seems fonder of you.” Revenant observed with a hum, “Almost like a soft little dog.” He spat at the cub, “How delightfully boring.”
“Maybe, but I appreciate not being bitten by him anymore.” You answered as you looked back at the Prowler. He was already growing, and you were more than happy to look after him, but he was going to get large, “Even if he might outgrow me one day…well and maybe try to eat me at any moment.” You huffed.
Revenant snorted, “Ha. Maybe he will, but I’m sure Predators are less inclined to eat people they like.”
You looked at the Simulacrum, “Is that why I’m still alive?” It was barely a whisper, “Because you like making my life miserable?”
 Revenant looked taken aback, his orange eyes turning into pinpoints as he considered his next words, “Miserable…No.” His metal jaws clicked, “You’re the only person that can make me laugh.”
Those words were heavy, and you watched him struggle for a moment with himself, “I don’t understand anything. I was programmed to kill for…I don’t know. A long time. This is new for me and I have hated every second of feeling more than I did being nothing but a slaughter machine.” He growled.
“You should call me by my name then.” You smiled as you said it for him, and the Simulacrum nodded once before repeating it back to you and turning to watch Demonio gnaw on his bone.
“Oh,” Revenant looked back at you and you poured him another drink, “For the record, I like you as well Revenant.” You smiled as you sat down next to him and watched Demonio work on his bone a little longer.
 “Demonio!” You rushed after the Prowler as he launched himself at a customer. He was now a juvenile, and the hound like beast was quick to dislike anyone that touched you over the bar. You kept him behind the bar, but the creature was quick to jump at people that took hold of you. Revenant laughed from the end of the bar, tucked in the shadows of the wall as he ran his claws back and forth over the bar, “He knows people shouldn’t touch what isn’t there’s.” The Simulacrum sneered as the patron whipped around to look at him.
“Oh yeah, you metal fucker? What are you saying?”
“That your disgusting little skin sack hands don’t deserve to be near ‘em.” Revenant’s fingers snapped together, the fusion metal slamming together as he raised himself over the bar, spun and stuck up against the ceiling over the man, “Maybe I’ll take more than your hand like the hound would.” He ran the sharp spear of his hand down the man’s cheek, “I think your innards would make a lovely adornment to my mantle.”
“Revenant.” You tugged the hand away, “Enough.” You hissed at him, “Sir, I’m sorry for the drama…”
“Save it. I’m out of here.” He shoved his drink over the side and rushed to the door, “Bunch of fucking weirdos.” He snarled as he left.
 The night drew to a close and Revenant spent the rest of the opening hours sulking in the back of the bar, alone on a table, with his feet propped up on the metal, his drink untouched as he watched the patrons with a vicious glare.
“Revenant.” You uttered as Demonio pattered along behind you, his frill flared as he dragged his tug rope for play time, “Are we going to talk about what happened, or are you going to sulk forever?” You asked as you sat across from him, pushing his feet to the side in order to see his gaunt metal face.
The Simulacrum snorted, “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Oh, there is.” You huffed, “You threatened to kill a man tonight who grabbed hold of my hand.” You sat back as Demonio pushed his head into your lap and you rubbed the scaley skin around his ears.
“Is there? I wasn’t aware that it was a problem.” Revenant moved his feet from the table, “He was an asshole. I won’t apologise for my actions.”
“I’m not…”
“And I sure as hell won’t be giving you money for his drinks..”
“Will you shut up and listen?” You snapped.
 Revenant felt anger threaten to spill over, but he slumped back in his seat as you pushed your finger down against the wood and scowled. He watched you with a huff.
“You’re lashing out and I want to know why.” You demanded, “From day one you were horrible. A cruel and mean machine that wanted nothing but to inconvenience me every day, but now you’re…giving me gifts. You’re here constantly and you just…You stopped me from getting a very horrible string of abuse. So, explain this to me, because I’m at a loss.”
Revenant was silent. His chassis was still and his wiring and pistons clunked as though he was being jolted back to life. He opened his hand on the table and dared to reach for one of your own. Smooth, cold metal fingers grazed your fingertips before they gingerly moved up and over your palm to stroke the soft skin. His orange eyes watched the pulse in your wrist before he linked the fingers once, squeezing tightly before he moved away again and guarded himself, crossing his arms out of your reach.
 “I…” He paused again, “I care for you.” That was it, he was silent again, his eyes watching you as you took in the meaning of the words he had dared to utter.
“Care for me?” You whispered back at him.
Anger laced him once again, “Yes, you stupid skinsuit! I might even feel something like love or joy!” He hollered as he flashed his claws and scraped them against one another, “Its infuriating and…And it hurts!” He threw his hand at the wall, “It hurts because I know I’m nothing but a giant killing machine! I’m stained in so much blood I could swim in it and nothing can ever make you love a disgusting creature like me!” Revenant heaved, almost like a human, his spinal column lurching as he screamed in frustration again and moved to stand up.
Like a viper, you grabbed at his hand and tugged, hard enough to jolt his fingers, but he was unfazed. He towered over you and watched, looking down at you with lonely eyes as his fingers dared, once again, to wrap around your own, seeking the heat they no longer possessed. He uttered your name, once, softly, as though he wasn’t allowed to say it, and then he looked you in the eyes.
 “That week you didn’t show up was like torture.” You said carefully, “For the first time, I was actually worried about you. It was then that I realised I liked having you around. Everything you did it was not to piss me off… well it was, but you haven’t had to speak or make friends with someone in so long, you just forgot how to do it anymore.” You felt your hand begin to shake in his, “But then the gifts started, and you thought about them. I said I wanted a dog one day, and well Demonio isn’t a dog but he’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever been given…So,” You smiled at him, “What I’m trying to say is that I think I might love you too.”
Revenant’s hand fell from your own and he looked to the wall for a moment before replying, “You really think you can love me?” He whispered, appearing small despite his towering height.
“Yes, I think I can.” You affirmed before leaning up to wrap your arms around him. The Simulacrum flinched before wrapping his thin, cold arms around you, taking in the warmth of the hug before pressing his face to your neck and humming at the gentle sensation of a kiss against his cheek.
“What was that for?” He asked quietly.
“Because I love you.” You whispered as you hugged him tighter.
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solitaria-fantasma · 2 years
Text
The Zoo, Part 3!
We resume at the weird love potion stand- off between Nosca, Honk, and Koira.
Koira began creeping towards Honk, one paw at a time, as if moving slowly enough would keep her invisible. Honk was not phased.
“Actually many birds find humans incredibly attractive.”
“I think Nosca is in trouble.”
Honk pried open the potion bottle with his creepy, toothy tongue.
“Oh, we are GOING to make a poor decision.” 
The lid of the potion bottle fell off, and Koira - after failing a will save - tried to dive after it.
Honk took the opportunity to leap into the air and dump the entire potion over Koira before dropping the bottle and flying out of the room.
Koira is a dumb bitch who got her magic from eating flowers, and thus, found the floral scent of the potion too tempting to resist, and immediately began licking it off of herself.
“Um…weird question. What is Koira’s sexuality?
“Colors.”
Dynamite had already run ahead and Nosca just hasn’t noticed that the Paladin is covered in love potion
“So the edges of your vision are tinged pink now.”
“Oh fuck she’s going to love that.”
Nosca finally noticed Koira dosing herself in love potion every few steps and salvaged a ratty towel from the many storage rooms around us to dry her off. The DM had her roll animal handling.
Finally dry(ish), Koira now smells like roses.
Things Honk has eaten so far:
42 copper pieces
8 silver pieces
6 gold pieces
1 tripwire
14 mango slices
The next room we found was an absolutely MASSIVE ballroom, covered in a thick layer of undisturbed dust…which is weird, because literally every other room in this dungeon so far has been swept clean by the zombie staff.
Nosca began using Prestidigitation to clean off all the columns and floors, just to see the craftsmanship underneath.
Koira sees only pink, now, and her perpetually-wagging tail is just kicking up the dust that Nosca hasn’t cleared away yet.
Dynamite is pissed off we aren’t killing things anymore.
The DM dropped some lore on necromancy and how it’s viewed in the setting as a reminder that yes, we HAD been hired to kill the necromancer living here, regardless of how nice their zombies were.
Honk’s Player: “Honk would like to poop on the floor and leave through the side door.”
Nosca, who just finished cleaning the entire ballroom with Prestidigitation: “You bASTARD-“
We found some stained glass windows in the next hallway, but the real beauties were in the tower up ahead; two towering, colorful depictions of a hooded figure offering a potion to the moon, and a goddess of said moon.
Koira was immediately enamored with the ‘striking green eyes’ of the goddess window….and they seemed to follow her around the room.
Me: “I give the goddess window one last tail wag, and then I follow Nosca.”
DM: “She winks at you.”
Player 1: “STOP SIMPING AFTER WINDOWS!”
We found some finely-dressed zombies in the next hallway. Nosca hesitantly fixed the half-tied tie of one. Honk tried to untie his shoes.
Another zombie came down the hall, saw us, and stammered out “Y-you’re awake!” Aha! Some plot!!
The flustered talking zombie gestured us inside a VERY nicely decorated room with more stained glass, a throne, and a ‘very familiar figure’ oh my gOD I know who this NPC is oh boy oh bOY OH BOY-
It is taking literally all of my willpower not to metagame but I was sO EXCITED for this part!!!
This NPC - Lilia (“Lilly”) - is indeed a necromancer, but they are also a very old friend of Koira’s; they come from the same nomadic mountain clan, though they both left to pursue their own quests.
Dynamite flopped dramatically in a nearby chair, disgusted with all this ‘emotion’ going on. A zombie offered her a goblet of (barely alcoholic) grape juice.
There was apparently supposed to be a guide or two waiting to explain things when we woke up in the dungeon. Whoops!
“I have some people to give a stern talking to when they become unlive again.”
The actual necromancer we were sent after (Lin Shi) is still somewhere else in the castle….and apparently he only eats mangos?
“He may be the master of mangos, but he’s not the master of me.”
Lilly has been there for three years, attempting to learn necromancy from Lin Shi, and she is VERY disappointed to have only been given a level one workbook of stuff she already knew (bc she bribed the librarian at the mages college while there to give her Forbidden Information) and a single verbose zombie to talk with.
“See, he’s kind of wanted by…the….government…”
“Kids are stupid and he’s an adult now, so it should be fine, but it’s not fine, because it was a felony.”
“I guess we’re asking to speak to the manager now.”
Lilly, to Nosca: “You’re from the mage’s college, right? You know that rumor about the two students who summoned a dragon for their final project senior year? That rumor?”
Nosca, not liking where this is going: “Yes….?”
Lilly: “Yeah he’s one of them. The other guy died.”
“Everybody watch your feet. The dog’s gonna be on the floor for a while.”
Dynamite got up from her chair just to faceplant in Koira’s fluff. Nosca pet them both while trying to strike up small talk with John, the verbose zombie.
John was adverse to making small talk, but when Nosca offered him actual, alcoholic, not-just-shitty-grape-juice beer, suddenly he was interested in conversing.
“You can see there are tears in his dry, dry eyes, and he savors every drop.”
John the zombie, trying to describe alcohol to a dog who can’t drink it: “Have you ever had bread?”
Koira, excitedly: “Oh, yes! I have had SO much bread.”
John the zombie: “It tastes like bread.”
“Koira’s going to start fantasizing about this ‘liquid bread’ while staring at the ceiling.”
After about 20 minutes, we heard a door slam somewhere in the castle (“like a toddler after being told ‘no’ to anything”).
Lilly came back to the room, swearing up a storm in her native tongue, which only Koira could understand.
Lin Shi refused to speak with us, and we’re once again in search of a compromise.
Dynamite: “Do you people have some rule against swearing?”
Lilly, gesturing emphatically at Koira: “You can’t swear around the dog! She’s too pure!”
Koira, choosing wisely not to mention that she could hear Lilly and her potty mouth parade coming from a mile away: :x
Eventually, Lilly suggested that we could try talking to Lin Shi ourselves. Koira was gung-ho to try - after all, who can resist a dog? - but then, tragedy struck...Lin Shi is allergic to dogs.
“As long as your mom doesn’t ask, I won’t have to lie!”
Honk stuck his tongue into a magical keyhole on Lin Shi’s library door that had melted many lock picks in the past, and takes 15 points of necrotic damage, and got disadvantage on strength ability/saving throws for 1 hour.
Nosca: “Honk, no! Koira, can you heal him?”
Koira: “Uhh….I can get him legally married in the eyes of a deity of his choice?”
“Wait, you can TELEPORT?!”
Turns out Honk has a Bow of Misty Step that he can use three times per day, so he teleports to the other side of the door and opens it for the rest of the party.
Honk immediately alerted Lin Shi, who was already in the library, and Nosca, who failed to look for traps, tripped an arrow trap the moment she stepped into the room. Dynamite saved Nosca by kicking her knee in and yanking her down to the floor, but Honk was on his own.
“We’ve been trying to reach you regarding your castle’s extended territory.”
“Wait are yOU NAKED?!”
“I only have bracers and a cloak, so I guess so!”
Lin Shi tried to Mage Hand Honk off of his desk and by extension his notes, but Honk is a big goose full of coins, and was too heavy.
Lin Shi then tried to intimidate Honk out of his library, but Honk is immune to being Frightened via a racial ability, and tossed one of the notes into a nearby bunsen burner. Now we’re rolling for initiative.
Honk burned another note since he rolled first, and I’m pretty sure we’re all going to die.
Honk’s Player: “I just want to say, you guys don’t have to back Honk up. He’s allowed to have consequences.”
Dynamite has a randomized wild magic effect that activates whenever she rages, and blinded Lin Shi on her turn. She then downed him with one attack.
“He lives on MANGOS what were you EXPECTING?!”
It took Lilly and Nosca healing simultaneously to make sure this guy didn’t actually die.
“I want to let you know he did fail a death save.”
“Ooooohhh, we did NOT endear ourselves to this man.”
While waiting for Lin Shi to wake up again, Nosca found a crawlspace beneath the library floor that lead to another, smaller library, in which were shelved a whole truckload of high-class necromancy books and notes.
2 notes · View notes
yandearest · 4 years
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May The Odds Be Ever in Your Favor (Hoseok x Reader Hunger Games AU) Chapter 2: Training Day
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Summary - Living in District 4 you never thought you would have to worry about being selected for the Hunger Games. With a training centre right near the dock of the houseboat you lived and fished from, your district was known for volunteers who trained their whole lives for a shot at glory and riches. But at age 18, your name is called and no girls volunteer to take your place. Your devastation is answered when Kim Namjoon volunteers for the males shortly after. Tall, muscular, highly intelligent and charming, the years of diligent preparation have bestowed Namjoon with the expectation of being the next District 4 champion after Finnick Odair last won 3 years ago.
Fishing for a living has granted you skills with a knife but, as your mentor Finnick is quick to describe, your beautiful face may well be your best asset.
Upon arrival in the Capitol you are quickly faced with the reality that Namjoon may not even be the biggest danger inside the Arena. Especially when you capture the obsessive attention of District 2′s own volunteer, and killing machine, Jung Hoseok. Hope soon fades from ‘survival’ to ‘the mercy of a painless death’ but Hoseok certainly has other plans.
Pairing - Hoseok x (fem)Reader
Genre - thriller, angst, yandere
Word Count 7.2K
Warnings - [in later chapters] major character death, graphic depictions of violence, swearing, obsession, dubcon-smut (smut will be marked so reading is optional), gore, unrealistically beautiful oc because I’m a sucker for that shitty trope and want to live vicariously through my writing (sue me)
The following is a dark fic featuring a yandere character, violence, obsession, and coercion. By no means does writing about this in a fictional setting condone any of those behaviours, much like Stephen King writing horror doesn’t mean he approves of psychotic killers in reality. Please avoid reading if any of these warnings makes you uncomfortable.
Previous Chapter: 1
Cross posted on A03 so people can subscribe for updates/notifications
Training began the following morning at 10am, although when you woke for breakfast at 8 Namjoon was nowhere to be found in your living quarters. Finnick informed you that Namjoon had left to begin early as you elected for a bowl of cereal instead of the array of foods presented on the dining table. To anyone else the spread of pancakes, syrup, pastries, bagels, bacon, eggs, sausages and other delicacies you weren’t even familiar with would have appeared mouth watering. But in your state it all just looked like cardboard. You didn’t trust yourself to be able to keep anything down but knew you had to at least eat something so you wouldn’t pass out later.
You tried to make the most of the one on one time with Finnick, listening as he talked about the range of stations that would be inside the gym. For the most part he seemed to suggest being a shadow to the rest of the careers, “play along and act dumb so they think you trust them and are too stupid to make plans for yourself”. Your best bet of survival relied entirely on them underestimating you and you being able to correctly time when to stab them in the back (literally) before they disposed of you.
Once you finished barely eating, you dressed in the capitol provided athletic wear; a fitted black T shirt with decorative panels of silver and gold along the sides and the number 4 emblazoned on your sleeves, along with a pair of just-below-knee-length black leggings that also featured the same silver and gold design as a strip on the sides. After tightly lacing up your sneakers, and tying your hair into a high ponytail, you took the elevator from the floor of your living quarter down to the basement where the gym was located.
You had no idea what you were expecting, perhaps something similar to the warehouse gym back in 4, but the spacious room that you arrived in was definitely not it. To start with, despite being under ground beneath an apartment complex, it looked like it could easily fit at least five warehouses inside the space. There were so many stations set up you wondered how it would be humanly possible to even attempt all of them within your three-day time limit. There were more weapons here than you had ever seen in your entire life combined; what appeared to be a parkour racing course, a rope climb, fire making equipment, a knotting station, something that looked like a paint set up, a tablet with symbols (what use that was supposed to bring you had no idea) and many other things you weren’t sure of. A large digital clock was mounted in the middle of the wall at the back, near a rock climbing wall, displaying the time as 9:45AM. You tried to swallow down your nerves as you scanned across the room looking for Namjoon. You found him easily at the weight section, bench pressing a large barbell you didn’t care enough to read the weight on. It seemed like a pretty basic scare tactic of trying to intimidate the other districts with his strength, but it didn’t have any impact on you because you were already aware.
“What’s muscles over there trying to prove?” a sudden voice at your side caused you to start, whipping your head to see Krystal next to you. She didn’t quite smile but there was an amused look to her eyes and a little quirk to the corner of her mouth.
“Holy shit please don’t sneak up on me like that in the arena, I will literally die of a heart attack” you exhaled with an awkward laugh at the end.
“Wouldn’t be the most painful way to die in there,” Krystal retorted with a shrug. She looked different compared to last night, but you supposed you could say the same for everyone if you compared them in an elaborate costumer to their gym wear. Her sleek black hair had been braided into two French plaits down the back of her head and secured into twin buns on the bottom.
“Touché,” you agreed but quickly moved to shift the topic away from you dying. “To answer your question Namjoon’s probably trying to intimidate some kids into thinking he’s going to bench press them to death.”
Krystal gave an amused hum before gesturing towards her fellow district mate Yoongi who was lazily sitting against the wall nearby. Training hadn’t even started yet and he looked like he’d much rather be asleep. It was hard to think of him as the confidently spoken cape wearing tribute from yesterday when he was now slumped against a wall. If anything he looked quite adorable.
“We just got here, have you seen 2?”
“No, I just got here myself, Namjoon came early to get extra training in”
You looked around the warehouse again trying to spot a familiar head of copper hair or Athena’s cropped blonde pixie cut but couldn’t see either of them for now.
“If he wants to wear himself out before we even get into the arena that’s his business, but if he pulls a muscle or drops a barbell on his head, I’m not carrying him,” Krystal muttered as Namjoon grunted lifting his weights up a final time before slamming them back on the rack.
“Agreed.” You murmured whilst Namjoon finally spotted you were here and nodded towards you and District 1 in recognition, before walking over. Krystal and yourself both gave half hearted waves in reply, Yoongi looked like he had actually fallen asleep and didn’t do anything.
“Hey,” Namjoon greeted wiping his forehead on his shirt sleeve and taking a drink from his water bottle. As much as you had made light of his workout before the fact he was barely out of breath after lifting more than twice your body weight was pretty intimidating. “Have you seen 2 yet?” You were about to tell him what you had just told Krystal when a raspy voice spoke from behind you
“Speak of the devil and he shall appear.”
Turning around you saw Hoseok and Athena walking out from where the elevators were nearby. Athena looked almost unrecognizable in comparison to her warrior outfit and smoky make up from the night before. Her short hair was pushed back with a headband and her face much rounder. She was definitely shorter without her heeled shoes and her body type much curvier than what her costume showed. Whilst Athena, Yoongi and Krystal all looked softer without their costumes and make up Hoseok somehow still managed to radiate the same aura from the tribute parade. His form fitting T-shirt and pants (in the same design as everyone else’s) accentuate his lithe build. The tights he wore showcase the definition of his calves and thighs, along with how long his legs were. The definition of his abs could be seen through the black shirt and his biceps were on display. It appeared he didn’t need any bronzing powder or contouring make-up to sharpen his facial features; his high nose and cheekbones were still just as prominent and his jawline just as sharp. He ran a hand through his hair, which was disheveled from not being styled, but somehow still managed to look good anyway.
When you make the mistake of looking into his eyes you can see that there was definitely no make up involved in the intensity of his stare from yesterday, it’s still just as unnerving this morning. The corner of his lip pulls up into a smirk as he sees you assessing his appearance and he has no shame running his eyes over your body.
“Nice of you to show up,” Namjoon grunted, clearly not impressed with the way Hoseok was staring at you again.
“Relax we’ve still got five minutes until we’re officially mean to start” Athena said as she stops beside Namjoon. She strikes up a conversation to try and distract him like Hoseok had told her to do. Why exactly she was following his instructions she didn’t really know, but she didn’t particularly care to upset him at this point so she simply played along. Namjoon was easy enough to engage, all she did was ask him what he had been doing to work up a sweat and he immediately leapt into a description of the circuit he had been training.
Hoseok moved to take the spot between Athena and yourself.
“Morning love,” he whispered under his breath, touching your elbow gently and leaning down slightly in a way that’s only intended for you to hear. You shudder at the feeling of his warm breath ghosting against the shell of your ear and curse your body for it’s unconscious reaction.
He pulls his hand away just as quickly, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention, but wishes he could maintain some form of physical contact. ‘There’ll be plenty of time for that in the arena,’ Hoseok assures himself watching as your cheeks flush that same rose color they did last night. He can’t explain why, but something so simple as your blush makes him feel ecstatic. Oh the things he would do to you to see what else makes you flush that pretty color for him again.
“Hey,” you reply, trying not to break the eye contact out of fear it could be taken as a sign of weakness. He’s tall so you need to look up, but you’re not that short either so it’s not a high angle. You’d estimate the top of your head reaching around his nose if you had to guess.
“I’ve been dying to ask this since seeing you yesterday, but what is an angel like you doing at these games?” his voice is still low, but not as quiet as before, as Namjoon continues to elaborate on his morning work out whilst Athena pretends to care.
“Uh same reason nearly everyone else here is, my name got pulled out the bowl,” you tried to casually respond with a shrug but knew the devastation would have been showing in your eyes. There were some things you just weren’t capable of hiding, and your fear at your situation and imminent death was one of those things. “And you?”
Hoseok frowns and you wonder if you somehow said something wrong but then he softly shakes his head.
“Volunteer,” he states and you swallow with a nod, unconsciously shifting backwards a little. His very appearance is lethal so it really shouldn’t be a surprise at all that he’s signed himself up to slaughter people like you, just the same way Namjoon had.
“Right, I mean you’re a career,” you shrug again looking across at Krystal, Athena, and Yoongi, wondering if they were volunteers too.
“Hey,” his hand was back on your elbow again, he didn’t give a shit if the others saw him. The feelings he was already experiencing towards you had just been intensified immeasurably by the fact you were innocent in these games. He didn’t know how to possibly describe it; all he knew was that from all the words that existed, in all of the languages in the history of mankind, there would never be a way to explain it.
He saw the tremble in your body whenever he looked at you, the shudder earlier when his breath met your ear, surely you had to feel something towards him too. There was no possible way that these emotions he was experiencing could be contained in just one body, you had to be sharing this experience. Was this a ‘soulmate’ that he had only read of before in passing regarding outdated literature? He had never been the kind to believe in fate before, as far as he had trained his whole life to believe, his only destiny was to win the games and bring honor to his family. But as you stood before him, for only the second time in his life, he just knew that you had been preordained for him.
At his age of eighteen he had experienced love in some capacity before, his parents, his sister, a few close friends and a couple of girlfriends here and there but none of those emotional connections compared to you. Surely you would feel the same way about him too, but of course as the poor reaped tribute that you were, you were too afraid to be able to focus on him right now. He was furious you were even here, how dare none of the other female trainees from 4 volunteer to save your precious existence. How cruel the forces of the universe were, for gifting him with an angel only for her to be so close yet still so out of reach. These intense emotions were far too much for one person to ever experience alone, so somehow he must be possessing part of your emotions for him, because you weren’t capable of focusing on anything more than survival right now. His poor defenseless angel, how much you needed him right now.
That must be it. A trial from beyond these games where he would have to earn not just this victory but a way to make you experience your love. There had to be a reason why you were here, it’s because it was for him to prove himself worthy of you. Oh how he wishes you could have met outside, after his victory tour when he went to 4 and he could just pick you from the crowd and make you his. But that would’ve been too simple. Yes, a love like this only came once in a lifetime, he was certain, and he would need to move heaven and earth to somehow save himself and you. But there had to be a reason that the universe had put you together right at this very moment. There had to be a way for him to save you both, and he knew he would kill anyone and everyone who got in his way.
“I promised you last night, I won’t hurt you, and I meant it,” he said, squeezing your elbow – not tight enough to hurt – as if trying to implore you to believe him. His hand felt warm and his hold was firm, shooting a tingling sensation down your spine. You tried to suppress the physical affect his touch was having on you, knowing nothing good could possibly come out of any attraction. You hated just how strongly your body was reacting to him, wondering why the hell he was trying to flirt before he would inevitably try to kill you, and why your body was liking it. But even though you were a tribute, ultimately you were still only human.
“Hoseok, you literally volunteered to kill me, it’s fine,” you began as a small voice internally added ‘well it’s not fine really but that’s besides the point’. A look you couldn’t read flashed in Hoseok’s eyes and he opened his mouth to say something, but you continued on before he could speak.
“I’ve seen enough of these games to know how the career pack works. I’ll help you guys and when it comes down to the end I’ll just try as hard as I can. There’s only one winner and look at you,” your eyes were on his torso because you couldn’t bring yourself to maintain the eye contact as you spoke. The outline of his pectorals and abs that were visible through the fabric of his shirt, compared to your barely toned figure in comparison, did all the speaking in that regard anyway. Looking down at his grip on your elbow, you could see how the fingers on his large hand nearly wrapped all the way around your arm. His own biceps would easily be twice the size of yours.
“Look at Namjoon,” you subtly gestured to your much larger district-mate, “and then look at me.” You weren’t exactly unfit, all the years of physical labor from working on your family’s boat had helped give you some muscle definition, but it was nothing compared to a trained killer.
“You don’t have to lie to me.”
“I’m not lyi-”
Hoseok’s objection was cut off by an announcement coming from the other side of the room. It was now 10 am and everyone had to attend a briefing in regards to how training worked. Hoseok scowled at the interruption before quickly dropping your arm to avoid suspicion from the others.
“This isn’t over,” he whispered, as you followed with the others to where a dark skinned woman stood in the center of the room. She introduced herself as Atala and ran through the basics of how the next three days would work. Her commentary about dehydration and infection being as much of a danger in the arena as the weapons was particularly interesting to, you wondered if Namjoon had spent as much time on his survival skills as he did on his fighting in the old warehouse back at 4. You doubted it. You also noticed a window on the wall that your back had been facing when you entered the room, where a room of mostly men in suits with eccentric beards and wild colored hair styles were sitting on lounges. Atala introduced them as the game makers who were here to observe, sending a shiver of disgust throughout your body.
Before being allowed to focus on the stations of your choice there was a tribute wide assessment on four of the obstacles: Monkey bars, a fire making station, a memory game (which explained what that strange tablet thing was) and a one on one physical combat match with a Capital trainer. The monkey bars were first and tributes were to perform in the order of their district numbers. You were mildly surprised by how Yoongi went from appearing lethargic to swinging across the bars with ease, but as a career it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Krystal and Athena both had no trouble and Hoseok flew across the rungs twice as fast as the others. You swallowed a nervous lump in your throat when your turn came, feeling the pressure of being in a career district and having all eyes focused on you. Upper body strength had never been your strong point, and you knew the furthest you would probably be able to get was around the half way mark. The girl from 3 had struggled and fallen off nearly immediately but you still didn’t want to fail, especially not with Namjoon breathing down your neck behind you. Back at home you had needed to climb around the boat before in order to make repairs, which suddenly gave you an idea.
Jumping up to reach the bar, you used the momentum to swing your legs through and up onto the next bar in front. Hooking your ankles under you pulled your legs through the gap until you were hanging by your knees. With your weight now more evenly distributed you were able to pull yourself up and awkwardly climb over so you were then on top of the bars. From there you tried not to look down at the long fall onto the thin mat below and crawled your way to the other end before lowering yourself back down when you reached the other side.
“Unconventional, but effective” the person who was responsible for measuring the times and taking notes muttered as they scribbled down something on their clipboard.
“Not bad, spaghetti arms” Athena nodded her approval, her own arm muscles were probably close to the same size as Yoongi’s.
“Gotta know your own strengths and weaknesses,” you smiled back with a shrug. Your time was much slower than the others – Namjoon racing across the other side in a speed to rival Hoseok, right after you were done – but it was still better than not even being able to complete the course at all.
The other assessments were pretty much non eventful with predictable results. You performed decently in comparison to other reaped tributes but were definitely lacking compared to the rest of the careers. You could also detect a bit of rivalry beginning to brew between Namjoon and Hoseok as they tried to one up the other. Hoseok was the faster of the two to light a fire but Namjoon was quicker in being able to solve the memory puzzle. Both of them landed ‘lethal blow’ scores against the capital trainer in their sparring match (you had managed to land a simulated hit of the heel of your hand to the capital trainer’s nose which had counted as an ‘incapacitated blow’ – not a bad score).
With the mandatory grading over you were then given individual feedback along with suggestions on recommended training stations before breaking for lunch. After all the exercise you couldn’t help but feel much hungrier than you had before during breakfast, and helped yourself to a sandwich, along with an apple and a bottle of water from the provided catering. The feedback had been handed out on a card, in order of the district number, before you were dismissed for lunch, and you didn’t pay attention to where 1 and 2 had walked off to. Wanting to be alone anyway you walked around a corridor into an empty hallway and took a seat on the floor against the wall. Leaning back, you raised your knees and rested your elbows on your legs as you scanned across your feedback card. You noted there weren’t any grades or scores, but merely recordings of the time it took for you to complete the activity and a short written assessment next to each. At the bottom were the suggestions for which areas to focus on over the remaining days.
Your evaluation had described you as ‘a dark horse’. The Capital had picked up on the career’s alliance and noted that you were the physically weakest of the six members, however they gave you commendation for unconventional problem solving during the monkey bars. The primary suggestion was focusing on weapons based training in order to stand a chance of survival when the time came for the careers to turn against one another. There was also a suggestion to train more on agility based exercises that played to your existing skills, rather that bothering with weights or physical strength stations that would be impossible to build in such a short time.
“How did you go?”
The sudden voice and presence at your side, whilst you were intently focused on reading your card, caused you to jump and nearly swallow your last mouthful of sandwich down the wrong way. You managed to just catch it with an awkward choke, reaching for your bottle of water to swallow it down properly. To your absolute humiliation, you looked up to see Hoseok standing above you with an amused look on his face.
“Uh, fine I guess,” you muttered, fiddling with the card in your hand as he sat down beside you. “You?”
“As expected,” was all he replied with. You nodded awkwardly. You had seen him perform before you in all of the tasks and sail through each of them with ease. ‘As expected,’ meant nothing less than perfection for him. You couldn’t help but wonder if your death was going to be by his hand, and if that would just be ‘as expected’ for him as well.
“Let me see your card.”
You opened your mouth to protest, but the words were caught in your throat (much like your previous mouthful of sandwich) as Hoseok easily pinched your card out from your fingertips and passed you his along the carpet in return. Frowning, you picked his up, to at least pretend it was a mutual exchange.
“Did you swap cards with the others?” you asked, wondering why he was interested in your report. You skim read across his, finding commentary about Hoseok’s speed, skill and lethality, along with a note stating him as a lead contender, nothing that you weren’t already aware of.
“Nope,” Hoseok dismissed, lips pursed as he read your card much slower.
You frowned at this, passing his card across the floor and reaching over to try and grab yours back, only for Hoseok to lazily lean to the side away from you, with a hint of an amused smile. You let an annoyed huff of air out.
“So why are you reading mine then?”
At this Hoseok paused to raise an eyebrow and make eye contact with you over the top of your card in his hands.
“Because I don’t care about the others.”
He found the stunned look of confusion on your face to be absolutely adorable.
“But…” you paused, not even knowing what to say. Shouldn’t he at least care for his own district mate? Granted you didn’t care much for Namjoon but you were at least somewhat going along with him for the sake of presenting a cohesive alliance. And if he didn’t care about the alliance then what was he doing here with you? The implication of his statement was quite clear that he somehow cared about you, so what had you possibly done to warrant his apparent attention.
“Why?” was all you could eventually ask.
He lowered your card to the floor and slid it back towards you, leaning across with it. You predictably reached to pick your card back up and he instantly took the opportunity to put his hand over yours. You flinched and attempted to pull back, but his grip only tightened, forcing your hand to remain below his much larger one.
Your pulse began to rapidly accelerate. You knew he couldn’t harm you, not until you were in the arena. But to be alone and so easily caught and toyed with, by someone much more powerful than you, was frightening. You looked up from his hand to his handsome face, trying not to tremble as Hoseok stared back with a lazy smirk in place. The thumb on his hand over yours was softly stroking the skin around your wrist and you could swear your heart was pounding so fast he had to be able to feel your erratic pulse.
“Because I need you to be with me at the end.” His husky voice was a low murmur, as he leaned in closer again. Your hand remained clasped tightly below his 
“So you can have an easy kill, because I’m weaker than the others?” you frown, knowing your assessment would have told him as much. But Hoseok was quick with a denial.
“No.”
“Then why?” You pushed, growing frustrated with his indirect answers and your hand still trapped in his. Hoseok only tilted his head to the side and released a sigh, looking highly amused.
“Don’t you trust me? You know I’ve promised not to hurt you darling,” his low voice grew quieter still, barely above a whisper, causing you to lean in so you could hear him better.
“Darling?” You balked at the endearment. Whatever answer you could possibly imagine coming out of Hoseok, it definitely wasn’t that. “Hoseok I don’t know what kind of game your playi-”
“You’re not a game to me.” He cut you off before you could even finish your sentence. Undeterred you rushed to speak again.
“But we’re literally in The Hunger Games and one of us is going to have to kill the other. And you and I both know how much easier it would be for you to kill me, than the other way around.”
“Oh so you find the thought of killing me unbearable?”
He quirked his eyebrow with a smirk and again you tried to yank your hand back in annoyance, but he only moved his grip further up to clasp tightly around your wrist. His long fingers easily wrapped all the way around, as he then pulled your arm back towards him, causing your upper body to lean further forward. Unconsciously you let out a breathless whimper in shock, your faces now so close you could feel his breath fanning across the side of your cheek.
“I… I don’t even know how I can kill anybody. You’re the volunteer here and clearly the better fighter between us so you would easily kill me in a final two,” you whispered, trying to turn your head away from his, only for the side of your face to press against the wall.
“Oh but darling you’re wrong, to kill you would be to kill myself.”
The hand that wasn’t pinning your wrist to the ground moved to cradle the side of your face, his fingers threading into your hair and thumb running along the top of your cheekbone.
“Hoseok, stop.” You raised your free hand to push against his chest, but he was solid as a rock and didn’t even budge. Instead he only curled his torso in towards you, pinning you in place against his body and the wall. You whimpered in fear, eyes scanning the hallway trying to find a way out, only for Hoseok to press his nose against your temple and lips to the shell of your ear.
“You may not even know it yourself but I can feel it in your pulse how your heart calls for me. Every beat I feel beneath my fingertip sings to my own, that already belongs to you. If you were to die, my heart would have no need to beat without the one it beats for.”
His deep voice was a seductive purr as his breath against your ear sent a shiver throughout your entire body. His hold on your face forced you to look back into his eyes once more, which held the same intense passion you had seen in them last night.
“How c-can you even say something like that, it hasn’t even been a day s-since we met?” you choked as you felt tears beginning to sting in your eyes.
“Because I felt it the second I laid my eyes on you, and seeing you again this morning only made me feel a hundred times stronger.
“Please stop, I’m going to be dead in a week so can you please just not turn my life into some sick joke,” it was all you could do to beg as the first tear spilled from the corner of your eye, his thumb below easily wiping it away.
“I’m. Not. Joking,” he hissed, each word punctuated by his fingers burying into your hair and clenching tightly at the roots, causing you to gasp as more tears spilled out.
“You’re hurting me,” you whimpered, the hand on his chest reaching up to try and pull at his hand that was holding onto a fist full of your hair. His grip instantly released, his hand moving to grab onto yours and thread his fingers in between your own, before squeezing tightly.
“Not as much as you hurt me whenever you try to deny me,” he retorted, pulling your hand to his lips to place a kiss upon the back.
“What do I possibly gain from a game perspective to choose you as my final partner? You said it yourself that you’re the weakest so that means I’ll need to protect you from the other four when the alliance turns. And believe me princess, I will. I’ll slaughter every one of them in cold blood. I’ll snap the neck of anyone who so much as harms a single hair upon your head. I’m going to kill them all for you baby, and I’ll make you watch so you can see just far how far I’ll go for you.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” you whispered brokenly, tears spilling freely from your eyes now.
“Because,” Hoseok dropped your hand to grab ahold of your chin as his lips moved in closer. When he spoke you could feel them brushing against yours “you’re mine.”
But before Hoseok could firmly press his lips to yours in the kiss he longed for, a sudden shout broke the atmosphere he had worked so hard to build.
“YN!”
You never thought you’d be relieved to hear the sound of Namjoon’s angry voice barking in your direction, but his appearance around the corner and into the hallway caused you to exhale a long breath you didn’t even know you were holding.
“What are you both doing here?” Namjoon growled, angrily striding towards you as Yoongi, Krystal, and Athena followed behind him.
Hoseok, who had his back turned to their direction, scowled in anger at the disruption, before quickly masking his face to a neutral expression. The sudden change in demeanour causing you to flinch.
“I found this one here having a bit of a breakdown over her report card,” Hoseok said, lazily getting to his feet and shooting you a wink as your jaw dropped in shock at his smooth and blatant lie.
“No! I- I…” You immediately went to protest only for the words to be caught in your throat. It would just be Hoseok’s word against your own. And who would believe you? His words were so insane you could barely even believe what he had just been saying.
“It’s ok YN,” he purred, as the others walked over towards you. You angrily got to your feet wiping your eyes, not wanting to be a crying mess on the floor in front of the whole group. “I was just telling her there’s no need to worry. First day freak outs can happen to the best of us.”
“I’m fine,” you scowled, crossing your arms and glaring at the floor and seeing the damned report card laying on the carpet.
“I just wanted some time to myself and if anything having someone around only made it worse” you bit back.
“Very well then,” Hoseok smirked raising his arms in a mock surrender gesture and waving his hands theatrically. “Excuse me for trying to be a good teammate.”
“I didn-” before you could rip into him, you were interrupted by another.
“Can you all give me one minute to talk to my district partner,” Namjoon grunted at the others. He didn’t bother waiting for an answer, grabbing a hold of the top of your arm and dragging you further back up the hallway. You didn’t know what was worse between him bossing you around since the train ride or Hoseok’s crazy confession, but what you did know was that if anyone else tried to manhandle you again you were going to take your chances on your own in the arena. It had only been one day and you were rapidly growing sick of this alliance. You’d rather die with dignity on your own than be dragged around like a dog’s chew toy.
“Let me go,” you hissed, when you were far away enough not to be overheard, grabbing his hand and ripping it off your arm. Namjoon just rolled his eyes before staring down at you from his tall height.
“What the fuck was that about?” he asked.
For a moment you breathed a sigh of relief. Trying to convince Athena or District 1 about Hoseok losing his mind would be one thing, but Namjoon was your own team mate. You vaguely knew each other from growing up in the same town. Maybe he might actually believe you. Glancing back to the others you saw them chatting amongst themselves, Krystal was now holding your report card and Yoongi gave a dismissive shrug to something Athena had just said. As if sensing your gaze, Hoseok glanced across to make eye contact. The corner of his lip curled up and he cocked his eyebrow smugly as if to say ‘go on and tell him, see if he believes you’. You scowled at him before turning back to Namjoon and grabbing a hold of his arm (missing the way Hoseok’s nose twitched in annoyance at you initiating the physical contact with another man).
“Namjoon, please, you have to believe me,” you began, instantly lowering your voice as you squeezed his bicep imploringly – your hand didn’t even wrap halfway around the much stronger boy’s arm.
“What happened?” he asked bluntly, eyebrows narrowing into a frown.
So you told him. Speaking as quietly as possible and trying to rush through the details as fast as you could, you hurriedly told him about how Hoseok had found you alone and stolen your card, before pinning you against the wall, claiming you were his, and threatening to kill all the others. You finished by telling him how it was only through the rest of the group showing up when they did, that had stopped Hoseok from kissing you.
“It was humiliating,” you hissed out, trying to choke down the lump in your throat that had built up as you were recalling what happened.
“I don’t want to be in the career pack anymore, I can’t do it, not with him.”
You looked up at Namjoon, begging him with your eyes to believe what you had just said.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
You dropped his arm and visibly recoiled as if his words had physically hit you. As far as you were concerned he may as well have.
“Some pretty boy spouts some Romeo and Juliet bullshit so you want to leave the best chance either of us have for surviving this thing? How can you actually be that stupid?!”
You were fuming. How dare he just dismiss what had happened to you like that. You had taken a leap of faith, hoping that as your own team mate he would believe you, and instead he had virtually spat in your face as a response.
“I’m not stupid Namjoon!” You sneered. “The one year my name gets called out is the one year no girls volunteer because they knew that you were going to. If the girls who have spent their whole lives training know they can’t beat you, how the fuck do you think I feel right now? Maybe it’s easier for you because you’ve actually got a chance in these games, but I’m going to die. And none of this is my choice, you actually chose to be here! You were the one who said on the train that you wanted us to join the career pack, so I did! And now I’m the one being harassed, not you! Stop treating me like a child because I’m not just a pawn you can tell what to do until you decide to kill me.”
“If you don’t want to be treated like a child then stop acting like a pathetic fool over the first boy to give you some attention. Do you think your pretty little face is somehow special enough for Hoseok to actually fall in love with at first sight?”
“Of course not!”
“You should be thanking me for pulling your head back in from whatever deluded little fantasy he’s trying to spin. Are you that stupid you can’t tell he’s just trying to divide us so you want to work with him instead of me by the time we get to the end game? At the very least you and I know each other and I guarantee you, in that arena it’s better the devil you know”
You wanted to point out how you were the one to tell him about Hoseok, and clearly were trying to work with Namjoon instead, only for him to berate you, but logic was out the window by this stage.
“Is it? Cause it sounds to me like you’re just keeping me around until you decide to break my neck when it’s convenient for you,” you snapped instead.
“That’s how alliances work sweetheart. You watch my back in the pack to make sure 1 or 2 don’t just slit my throat in my sleep. I drag your ungrateful ass around and make sure you aren’t taken out by some amateur who wouldn’t know the difference between a liver and an intestine. Is that how you want to die? Bleeding out for hours after being stabbed by an untrained idiot and spending your final moments in agony? Would you rather die by someone beating your head in with a rock because that’s the only weapon they know how to use? Let’s see how beautiful you are with your skull smashed in huh. Or do you want to go from starvation or hypothermia because you’re lost and all alone?”
You were absolutely stunned. He was expecting you to just follow him around the arena like a little puppy, where the only incentive for doing so would be his definition of a merciful death? Before you could tell him where he could shove his alliance, your argument was cut off by the approaching voice of Athena.
“I don’t know what kind of little lover’s quarrel you two have got going on here” you could swear you heard a warning growl from Hoseok “but get your shit together. We can’t have infighting in the alliance, especially before we even get into the arena. You,” a point at Namjoon, “stop treating her like shit. And you,” a point at you, “Stop looking like you’re about to cry. You’re a career for fuck sake, a cold blooded killer. Even though you’re obviously not, you at least need to look like one to scare off the other tributes otherwise you’re going to be the lowest hanging fruit they try and pick off first.”
You stared blankly back as Athena kept talking. The other tributes. You had been so preoccupied thinking about Hoseok and Namjoon’s cruelty, you hadn’t even considered your position without them. By now you were established as a career in the eyes of 18 other tributes, regardless of if you wanted to be one or not. From the past years of the games you knew that the other districts would take any opportunity they could to eliminate a career that somehow wound up on their own.
You were completely and utterly ruined no matter what direction you chose to go.
“Hoseok, Namjoon, you two are coming with me to the obstacle course run for a few hours. We need to do some teamwork after you two had your little dick measuring contest before in the graded courses. You two need to do something to make it look like you’re unified because right now because that’s something other tributes can exploit. Krystal, YN, and Yoongi will go to the rope tying station so YN can help us with knots and show off that she’s actually needed in our alliance to the others”
Namjoon nodded curtly whilst Hoseok clearly looked more annoyed at the idea of being split from you and having to work with the Namjoon. However, he quickly covered his expression and nodded as well. Athena gave each of them a shove on the shoulder to get them moving and they walked off out the hallway and back into the training compound.
You took a deep breath, grateful to have a break from either of their presence before looking between Yoongi and Krystal. They didn’t seem particularly interested in you, their sharp eyes and beautiful features were relaxed into a neutral expression that only suggested boredom. That was perfectly fine with you. As a fisherman’s daughter you were indeed well versed in knots and grateful for the reprise which would allow you to spend some time on something you were actually confident with.
“Alright, show me where the knotting station is”
Note: This story was originally a one shot in my mind and has now reached a planned 6 chapters. Aha. I suck.
Ideally I wanted the 'before the games' section to just be one chapter, but found it was starting to get too long after this reached over 7000 words and I still have the other training days, final assessment/grade out of 12 and the interviews with Caesar to cover (those will be in the next chapter, with the games starting in the update after)
The concept of the assessment came from the 1st movie where Atala (the woman who does that ‘in 2 weeks most of you will be dead’ speech in the training centre) mentions a mandatory assessment, so I just worked with an idea from that.
This chapter hopefully showcases more of Hoseok's Yandere nature along with establishing just how much or a horrible character Namjoon is (I swear I'll do a better fic of Namjoon as the lead soon).
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anthonypacker · 3 years
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Poppy Seed Tea Recipe: How To Make Poppy Seed Tea The Right Way
Are you looking for a natural and clean way of treatment for any pain-related conditions, Did you know traditional Poppy Pods bases medicines are considered the most effective way of relieving pain? Then try a cup of Unwashed poppy seeds tea, which is also a great source of minerals, like manganese, copper, and iodine. Did you know 30 grams of unwashed poppy seed Tea, milk mixed with sugar is very beneficial in treating insomnia, Poppy oil can also be used Poppy latex boasts opioid compounds known for their sleep inducing properties. I’ll be presenting a poppy seed tea recipe that I have been using for a very long time now.
We are a certified Organic Farm that offers Dried Poppy Pods grown with practices that support biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and protect clean air and water. The health of our clients, community and our planet are critical to all of the choices that we make. Our Dried Poppy Heads and Poppy Seeds are of the best quality in the market and cultivated to meet the requirements of the United States, Canada and Australian Markets If you’re interested in learning how to make this herbal tea, check the recipe and items that you’ll need and the instructions below.
Poppy Seed Tea Recipe The Right Way
Items You’ll Need
Unwahed Poppy Seeds Lemons (Optional) Blackberry Vinegar (Optional) Water Fruit Juice (Optional) Bottle With Lid Large Jar Funnel Tea Towel + Rubber Band (Optional) Saucepan Citrus Juicer Knife Stirring Spoon
Instructions
Prepare Your Ingredients
Shake And Soak
Drain The Liquid
Squeeze Some Lemon Juice Most important Tip
Store Poppy Seeds In Airtight Container Final Thought
What You’ll Need
Unwashed Poppy Seeds
Unwashed poppy seeds can easily be obtain from dried poppy pods from supplies who specifically sale unwashed poppy pods. For this recipe, you’ll need about 500 grams of poppy seeds- this is good for one person. If you’re buying in bulk, I recommend using less because they are stronger than the washed poppy seeds sold in grocery stores.
Poppy seeds contain opium alkaloids (papaver somniferum) , like morphine, codeine, and papaverine. In small amounts, they can have a good effect on the body, ease nervous irritability, and work as natural painkillers. To select the most potent seeds, look for supplies that sale natural organic dried poppy pods, or organic unwashed poppy seeds from organic poppy farmers.
Note. All seeds sold in grocery stores washed and do not contain opium alkaloids (papaver somniferum) and wont help in any way.
Lemons
To conceal the slight bitterness of poppy seeds, you’ll need about 3-4 lemons. The acid content of lemons can also help release the alkaloids from the seeds by suspending them above the water. To select the best lemons, look for finely grained textured peels. But its okay if you don’t like or have lemon so it actually depends on your needs.
Blackberry Vinegar
If you have no lemons or you just want a variety in flavor, you can use blackberry vinegar instead. This fruit vinegar is characterized by a delicate acid flavor and a strong blackberry aroma. Aside from the pleasant tangy taste, this fruit vinegar gives a pack of nutrients, like vitamins A, C, and K.
Water
Soak the Unwashed poppy seeds in water, you need about 700 ml of water. It’s recommended that you use warm water, not hot water, to wash the goodies off the seeds better. As possible use filtered or distilled water so you can’t risk your tea to be contaminated with any water contaminants.
Fruit Juice
If you like to increase the strength and potency of the opiate effects, you can restrict the histamine production by adding some juices, like grapefruit juice. I have tried pineapple juice and it’s good enough to mask the taste of the poppy seed tea.
Equipment
Bottle With Lid For this poppy seed tea recipe, you’ll need a 1-2 liter of plastic bottle. An empty soda bottle is a good choice. The bottle will serve as the container where you shake and soak the poppy seeds with the water or fruit juice of your choice. Make sure that your bottle has a secured lid because you don’t want to make a terrible mess when you shake the contents inside.
Large Jar You need a large jar to serve as the container of your finished poppy seed tea. To save you the cost of buying a new jar, you can use the empty pasta jars in your kitchen. Just make sure that the jars are thoroughly cleaned before you use them.
Funnel A funnel comes in handy when you’ll be placing the poppy seeds into the plastic bottle. If you can’t find a funnel at home, you can make your own from a sheet of paper.
To make, fold the paper until you form a shape similar to an ice cream cone. Make sure that the bottom has a hole smaller than the opening of your bottle so the seeds won’t leak when you pour them.
Tea Towel + Rubber Band (Optional) To strain the liquid from the seeds, you’ll need a tea towel. You’ll be tying the towel into the opening of the bottle. Alternatively, you can use a coffee filter or any clean cloth. Recently, I used a clean sock and it worked out fine.
To secure the tea towel into the bottle, grab a rubber band. If you can’t find any rubber band at home, you can use a string.
Saucepan You may need a saucepan to warm the water fast. A 1/2 quart mini saucepan is a good size, but you can use any deep pan or pot you have at home. Alternatively, you can use a kettle to boil water faster.
Citrus Juicer To extract the juice from the lemons efficiently, you may need a good citrus juicer. What I use is the manual lemon squeezer, like this one, which guarantees no toxic materials. If you have no citrus juicer at home, you can extract the juice by using a fork.
Knife Yes, you need a knife to cut your lemons into half. There’s no specific brand or type of knife to use. You can use any available knife available in your kitchen.
Stirring Spoon A stirring spoon is a great help when you’ll be mixing the filtered poppy seed tea with the lemon juice. You can any long spoon you have at home. Just make sure that it’s clean so you won’t be imparting any dirt into your tea concoction.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Prepare Your Ingredients Prepare Your Ingredients For this poppy seed tea recipe, Use 500 grams of poppy seeds, 700 ml water, and 3 lemons. In a mini-saucepan, heat the water for a couple of minutes or until warm. You don’t want the water scalding hot because extreme heat will destroy the alkaloids rapidly.
Shake And Soak Get your plastic bottle and place a funnel on top. Pour the poppy seeds into the bottle cautiously. You need to be careful in this process because it will be very easy to spill the seeds and cleaning them will be such a hassle. When all of your seeds are in the bottle, pour the warm water.
Secure the lid of the bottle and give a vigorous shake for about five minutes. After that, you can let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes. Repeat the shake and rest process for about an hour. The longer you do this process, the stronger your tea will be.
Drain The Liquid At this point, the seeds may appear to be a lumpy mess. To separate the liquid from the seeds and other bits of particles, you can drain the tea in two methods: unscrewing the cap or using a tea towel + rubber band.
Method 1: Unscrew The Cap For the first method, unscrew the cap slightly, but not too loose or the whole contents will leak into the jar. Now, turn the bottle upside down and place it over the opening of the jar. If the bottle is not balanced well in the top of the jar, lean it against a wall.
You should be seeing the liquid seeping out from the cap. If you find that there’s not much liquid coming out, squeeze the bottle occasionally.
Method 2: Tea Towel + Rubber Band
Remove the lid from the bottle and place a clean tea towel on the opening of the bottle. Secure the cloth with a rubber band. Similar to what you do in method 1, tip the bottle over the jar and let the liquid filter through the cloth. Since the filtering process will take a long time, squeezing the bottle occasionally will speed up the process.
Squeeze Some Lemon Juice Squeeze Some Lemon Juice When all the liquid are drained from the bottle, remove it from the jar. You can extract more liquid left in the seeds by pouring the seeds into a clean cloth. Squeeze as much liquid as you can.
By this time, you’ll be left with a kind of slurry in the jar. That’s your poppy seed tea. To mask the flavor of your tea, add some lemon juice. To extract the juice from the lemons, first, cut them in half by a knife. Place each half in the citrus juicer and squeeze directly into the jar. Use the stirring spoon to mix the lemon juice with the tea.
Now pour a cup of tea and enjoy. You may start by drinking one cup of poppy seed tea to feel the results. If the pain still persists after 30 minutes, you may drink another cup.
Most important Tip
Store Poppy Seeds In Airtight Container When properly stored, poppy seeds can stay fresh up to six months. store the poppy seeds in an airtight container. Keep this container in a cool, dry place with proper ventilation and away from sunlight.
Before you store them, make sure that they’re well dried, any presence of moisture will promote the growth of molds which will ruin the quality of your seeds.
Another easy and very convenient way to store poppy seeds is by storing it in dried poppy pods so you can break the seeds out when need be.
Final Thought Did you have fun learning how to make a simple poppy seed tea recipe? You have found a natural painkiller. With its morphine content, it’s easy to get addicted so make sure that you pay extra caution when drinking it. Never overdose on this stuff.
If you have any questions or suggestions please let us know in the comments section. Contact us id you need unwashed poppy seeds or dried poppy pods, we have the best quality products you could fine online.
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indianartvilla12 · 2 years
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